In This World Of Maladies Of The Mind Poem by Sarah Mkhonza

When we wake up and our mind is gone,
To a land that plays around in screens,
Telling us that something needs to change,
If not our mind, our bank accounts.

I hear musings of the notes I sweat for,
Telling my mind they want to stay with me,
Locked up in the little vault called a purse,
And wait for a rainy day that is coming soon.

I hit myself on the side to check if I'm awake,
And find that I am really soundly so awake,
That I can feel it when a Zika mosquito stings,
Its dangerous venom in a woman miles and miles away,

When I awake they are measuring the skulls of babies,
Saying the brain is gone because of a sting,
I rub my eyes and find that the head on the screen
Is the head I carry all over boasting I am well.

Mind boggling they say it is these days,
When you wake up from dream to dream,
And find that it is certainly a world,
Where dreams get shattered in the very,
Bodies of the women who carry us.

Who said humans were not invincible,
If a mere insect could invade internally,
Without them seeing that the brain is in danger,
Of being gone totally swallowed to nothing.

This world of maladies of the mind,
Is a world that calls us to a duel,
Where we are to take out the sword,
And stab the mosquito as it flies,
And land on the other side victorious.

We may not wake up to see the movies,
Of us in armor and scabbard wielding,
But we sure will get that nasty one,
Who flies into our midst and strikes,
With the stealthiness of the devil.

I once thought this would be solved,
By one scientist in a lab alone,
Now I see that nations have to gather,
And go out and solve it with a duel,
Sword to sword one stab after another,
While mosquitoes buzz around confused.