Had Death Not Had Me in Tears by Kofi Awoonor

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Had death not had me in tears

I would have seen the barges

on life’s stream sail.

I would have heard sorrow songs

in groves where the road was lost

long

where men foot prints mix with other men foot prints

By the road I wait

‘death is better, death is better’

came the song

I am by the roadside

looking for the road

death is better, death is much better

Had death not had me in tears

I would have seen the barges

I would have found the road

and heard the sorrow songs.

The land wreathes in rhythm

with your soul, caressed by history

and cruel geography

landscape ineffable yet screaming

eloquent resonance like the drums

of after harvests.

We pile rocks on terracing love

Carry the pithy cloth

to cover the hearths of our mother.

Come now, you lucky ones

come to the festival of corn and lamb

to the finest feast of this land

come, now,

your lovers have unfurled

their clothes

their thighs glistening like golden knives

ready for the plunging,

for the plentiful loving time.

To whom shall I turn

to what shall I tell my woes?

My kinsmen, the desert tree

denied us sustenance

long before the drought.

To whom shall I turn

to whom shall I tell my woes?

Some say tell the mother goat

she too is kinswoman

elemental sister of your clan

But I cannot tell the mother goat

for she is not here.