Death, come and take me, and I’ll fly away, Fly away where I won’t see tears again
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.
WHEN SHALL MY TEARS DRY?
Death, come and take me, and I’ll fly away
Fly away where I won’t see tears again
Tears streaming down my cheeks everyday
Every day that I can’t feel any more pain
Life, surrender me and expose me to vultures
Vultures that can cease me
Cease me that I shan’t be seen by any cultures
Cultures vulgarize my own family to the sea
My birth is longer zephyr, but rough
My throat becomes needle
As I drink this cup of my own blood
It sours, this soul shall tear apart
I blame my existence on this wicked world
I wish I’ve never been here
Not only here, but even there
For everyone around me is dead
So am I
I’m dead man walking in space
But when my face shall be tied like lace
I shall go in the woods and hear the sounds
I don’t need to be tombed
So if I die today, don’t burry me underground
Leave me here alone and let me be bombed
My heart and soul shall praise the lord when I’m gone
My mouth and tongue shall sing all along
My legs and arms shall stand and come back home
And my ears and eyes shall go to LUBERIZI River and hear the song
The song once sung by my late father
And I shall be in somber with my late mother
My late mother shall rise from the grave and kiss me again
And whisper those beautiful words
Beautiful words I used to hear from her when I was I kid
And shall never weep again
For there will be no pain
But when shall these tears dry?
***
IF
If I was asked to choose between
The moonlight and the sunlight
I’d choose the moonlight
For you look glowing at my sight
Your eyes shine as you blink
Your lips flow curls of drops as you drink
I want right close to you
As you’re primping yourself
Padding slowly your hands
Kissing you like in the rain
Flying away like stars in the sky
Dancing in the shower
And diving like fish in the Lake Tanganyika
I’ll be sky
And you, my stars
For I’ll ne’er be lit without you
Together we can mingle
Like magnesium oxide
We can make the earth so bright
Let our love be blooming like flowers
Even when we grow and become towers
Girl,
If I were a singer
I’d sing you lullabies to make you sleep
If I were a writer
I’d write it all about you
If I were a reader
I’d read you every single minute into your eyes
If a pioneer
I’d play you with all my fingers
For you’re the strings
Producing sounds as air pass by
If I were a teacher
I’d teach you how to love me
Instead of Western Education
For this love breathes as I talk to you
If I were asked to choose between life wife
I’d rather say wife
Sighing like eagles
‘Tis you who would kill my devils
For you’re my heart
But if you stop beating and pumping blood
I’ll dry away like autumn leaves
And these blood vessels will turn into ashes
Life is senseless without you
***
BROKEN WINGS
This type of love flies
So far in space and skies
A love
These wings are you and I
Let’s hold our love so tight and fly there high
Let nobody take us apart
And make one heart
I’m no longer single
For we’ve already mingle
Let’s live in art
For within this start
Each one will take their part
Performing tasks like dust in air
And I shall hold your hair
Tapping your back
With my fingers all around
Like tires moving on the ground
With you, I’m the flower held on the pestle
Without you, I’m the tree’s branch that’s dry and brittle
Our love’s wings are breaking
And my arteries are stopping working
Another part of my heart which is you
Is becoming ice like the ewe
This feeling I have
It’s like a storm brewing
Everything shaking even above
As galaxies glowing
This type of love lies
With her broken wings
I’m suffocating as she dies
She’s hardly moving as it stings
A bee
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