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 999 Smiles by Atukwei Okai

to Guy Warren

 

nine hundred and ninety-nine smiles

plus

one quarrel ago, our eyes and our

hearts

were in agreement full that still

 

The sun rises in the East

And sets in the West, that

Still

Rains fall from above

Downward to the earth

That

Still smokes rise from the

Earth, reaching for the sky

That

Still our earth is round and

Not flat like a spread-out

Mat

 

and yet....

 

see where

today

you have

gone

to sit...

throwing...

stones

at us...

poisonous...

stones...

at us...

satanic...

stones...

at us…

 

 

And if I still had my hands

On my shoulders I should raise

One of my hands above my

Head

And gauge and catch your

Stones, one by one, while they

Were still hot in the cool

Air,

 

and yet...

see where ...

today

you have

gone

to sit...

hurling...

stones…

at us...

hurling...

stones...

at us...

infernal...

stones...

at us...

sinister...

stones...

at us...

 

But all the same, I shall not even

Utter your name, lest the fast and

Faithful

Winds repeat it to the hearing of

Our ancestors who are asleep

With

Their eyes, but not asleep with

Their ears, lest our ancestors

 

 

Angrily

Rise out of their nest and

Breathe out the winds that can

Shake

Till it breaks, the decayed drooping

Branch

upon which

of all

people

you today

have gone

to sit...

hurling...

stones...

at us...

wrathful...

stones...

at us...

saddening...

stones...

at us...

 

Charging precisely to our

Head, and if I still had my Hands

about me, I would

Gather

Your stones into a heap,

and Leave them there to lie till

Some morrow when we might

Use

 

Them to bring down to the warm

Tongues of some fire, fleshy

Birds, that above our heads are

Perched,

Just like you, upon the slippery

Branch of the air; and if still

 

 

I had my hands with me, I would Catch

And keep your stone without thinking

Of throwing them back at you-but

The hands too soon you have stolen away

With

You

to where

today

you have

gone

to perch

throwing...

stones...

at us...

 

venomous...

stones...

at us...

 

spiteful...

stones...

at us...

 

nine hundred and ninety-nine smiles

plus

one quarrel ago our eyes and our hearts

were in agreement full that still

 

When a man lifts his foot, it is

Forward

That he places it, that still, each

Human

Being owns only ten fingers on two

Hands