Vincent P. Magombe

"RED FIRE... IN THE FANGS OF DEATH"
By Vincent P. Magombe. (London, 1995-96)* [

This poem is created to be performed in the African 'Oral Story-Telling' Tradition]

Once Upon A Time...
In the Fangs Of Death
There Lived -
Red... Red... Red... Fire!

One Day...
Red... Red... Fire -
Came To Visit the Earth...


He Came To Make Unworthy..
All those,
Who Were Once Of Worth!


And He Would Make Insane...
All those,
Who Were Once the Sane!


The Tropical Sun Burned Hot...
And Red... Red... Fire -
Became so Thirsty!


To Quench her Thirst,
Red... Red... Fire -
Drank Our Sweat...

And his Face,
He Washed -
In Our Blood!


When the Brown Earth
Began to Crack,
Red... Red... Fire -
Flooded The Land...
Not With the Waters of the Tropical Rain,
But, With the Rivers of Our Pain!


And When -
Our Children Drowned in the Flood,
Red... Red... Fire -
Took them Back with Him...
And Buried them -
In the Fangs of Death!


O, Red Fire...
You.... Who Lives in the Fangs of Death!
O, Red Fire...
You... The Master of Disguise!


Here You Come Again -
Dressed in Your Shining Robes,
Woven from Threads of Gold!


You Say... You Have Come to the Graves
To Lay a Wreath!

Listen... Red Fire -
You... Who Lives in the Fangs of Death...
Will You Go Hang -
By Your own Curse of Death!

Vincent P. Magombe
Copyright by Vincent P. Magombe