Pain by Mbella Sonne Dipoko

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All was quiet in this park

Until the wind, like a gasping messenger, announced

The tyrant’s coming

Then did the branches talk in agony.

You remember that raging storm?

In their fear despairing flowers nevertheless held

Bouquets to the grim king;

Meteors were the tassels of his crown

While like branches that only spoke when the storm menaced

We cried in agony as we fell

Slashed by the cold blade of an invisible sword.

Mutilated, our limbs were swept away by the rain;

But not our blood;

Indelible, it stuck on the walls

Like wild gum on tree-trunks.