Nightmare

By Frank Chipasula

Darkness chained me to my tattered reed mat;

The head of tyranny sprinkled

The soot of ignorance in my eyes, and sleep

Hammered my head with slogans,

Then a nightmare stumbled on my sprawled life,

Tripped on the alarm of my heart,

And set me singing a healing song.

With song I bandage my ravaged land;

With the thread of song I sew the chopped heads

Back on the shoulders of the plucked flowers.

I plug the neck gash with a war chant;

With a sharp spear whose tongue sings,

I rip the veil of darkness from our land,

And the nightmare flees my secret light.

Copyright Credit: Frank Chipasula, "Nightmare" from Whispers in the Wings. Copyright © 1991 by Frank Chipasula. Reprinted by permission of Mallory International Ltd..

Source: Whispers in the Wings (Heinemann, 1991)