It’s not a man that makes dream but a dream that makes a man; Daydream is for you to dream bigger than the corpses of Brain
Charles Lipanda Matenga, a young poet and writer, who was born in DR Congo, raised orphan and spent life in a refugee camp, shares his poetry
Charles Lipanda Matenga, was born and raised orphan at Rwenena Village, Uvira, Sud-Kivu, D.R Congo in 2005. Charles Lipanda Mahigwe is President of African Youth Artistic Poetry-AYAP.
DAYDREAM
It’ll reach a day
That you’ve been hoping to see
Like chickens ticking on the eggs to lay
Been waiting to discern what’s inside your flight
Your way will be full of lights
No more darkness to hinder your insights
But no matter what, but you’ll still need to fight
For there’s minor problem in life
Initially people lived for the beauty of the nature
But today we live for the sake of life
Dreaming to be alive that day
That holds thousands of pages like a book
Being written by your own visions
Can’t be wet nor destroyed even by violent floods
For they’ve been encrypted by your mind and soul
This day is the sky
For one part is cloudy and another is milky
But don’t give upon your dreams
For they are like streams
Carrying future for you
You’re expected to work harder after failing
For failure is not the barrier to success
But the courage for your progress
Changes will come
Like heavy rains from the sky
It’s when you’ll realize that
It’s not a man that makes dream but a dream that makes a man
Daydream is for you to dream bigger than the corpses of Brain
Or even bigger than the vastness of DR Congo
***
WHY SHOULD I LOVE WHEN NOBODY LOVES ME?
I told a girl that my heart
Was like a bird searching for her nest
While thunder and lightning were after her
She never replied
But only her lips could speak
Speak in a quavering voice
For they trembled like earthquake victims
Like gravels been washed away by the strong wind
Quelling her panic inside her
Should I say love is hell?
Living in a tale
For it burns my heart
Till my chest becomes a bundle of ashes
Does loving someone queries art?
I hope she shall hear these feelings
Moving like blood into arteries
If love was a scar
You’d never find even a little trace of it on my body
For I’ve never been loved even a second.
If love was heaven
Only a few souls would walk into there
For mine never tasted even a little.
If love was sky
Stars could be counted
But only me who would not be seen.
If love was air
I’d die suffocation
For my body would contain no oxygen.
What’s love when words themselves are weaker than actions?
Where foes defeat soldiers in the battle
If lovers were warriors.
And war was love
I’d die before they even shoot me
And this wound could get no cure
For it’s like AIDS.
I’m scared of this type of love
For it makes my body shiver
Like smoking wrecking liver
This love is quarry
Where unstoppable feelings are dug out
Where a girl is quasar
Shining like gold and silver
But it flows harshly like water in river
If love was a car
Those names of boyfriend and girlfriend couldn’t even exist
That I’d travel the whole world by my feet
She and I walked a thousands of miles
Before I finished telling her
These words stained on my burned heart
While reading her smiles
Love is queasy
But this piece is not a quibble
Then why should I love when nobody loves me?
***
AT THE AGE OF NINE
The whole world became dark
I couldn’t see even a little lit of candle
I could only hear the voice of songs sung
And that voice made me remember
When my mom was still alive
She would sing as a bird singing for her lost ones
It’s said that a man doesn’t cry
But the tears came out from my eyes as spills
I could count every drop going down my cheeks
Like cars crossing the river’s hills
I was the ship with neither captain nor sailor in water
Thinking wreckage was on my way
I had no fear of being called an orphan
But I was afraid to be the orphan
Because orphanage is pandemics in our society
Will these dark imaginings get away?
Is it not just a state?
Don’t I breathe as you do?
Am I not a child among children?
That you treat me like this?
Losing parents doesn’t mean you lose everything
You’re still all you were born
You still have dreams to pursue
You still have goals to achieve
You’re still having that vision in your life
You’re still having that mission in your journey
You’re still the one from God
You’re no less than the rain and the moon in this universe
At age of nine
I put all my thoughts on the line
But I realize now that
Life is the mixture of sand in lime
Only if you become version of yourself
Also read: Home is everywhere – Charles Lipanda Matenga
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Prepared by 
