AFRICAN LOVE POEM
MONICA’S LOVER
You girls who cast your eyes about
To catch a handsome
man,
Come, hear the tale of Monica
And how her love
began.
She stepped into a market place
And held her head up
high:
While other smile with down cast eyes,
She stared above the sky.
She leveled her eyes above the place
But sought no
husband there:
‘Rather than marry one of you
I’d shave off half
my hair.’
‘I’d rather live in prison bonds
Or rot inside my
grave,
Than marry a single one of you,
And live and die a
slave’
Her father whipped her on the back,
Her mother groans
aloud,
Yet never a man Monica took,
Monica was so
proud.
But pride’s a sin old time will win,
And walking through
the town,
Monica saw a man so fine
He might have worn
a crown.
He might have sat upon a throne
And ruled a live of
men,
And he cast his eyes on Monica
And she never looks
up again.
She turned her eyes on the ground
And a pace behind,
And wherever he went she followed him
As if her eyes were
blind.
She move with him as a shadow moves
As a shadow pale
and dim,
And if ever she raised her downcast eyes
They rose to look
at him
They asked the stranger for his name,
But never a name
gave he:
And all the word he ever spoke-
‘She’s a fool that follows me’.
The stranger strode from out the town
Monica followed
still,
Her father roared, her mother wept,
Monica had her
will.
The stranger strode the narrow paths,
His stride was
strong and free,
And all the words he ever spoke-
‘She is a fool
that follows me.’
They came upon a legless man
Who sat beside the
ways,
And he stopped before
the legless man
‘There’s a debt
that I must pay.’
He tore the leg off his trunk
To give to the
legless man:
‘Thanks for the loan of these your limbs,’
The stranger then
began-
‘A girl must pay to have her way
And follow a man
like me.’
Then he turned and smiled at his own dear love,
And she wished
that she were free.
She looked with fear at her husband dear,
But she could not
run for fright,
So she followed the man with the crippled stumps
As he stumbled
through the night.
They came upon an armless man
Who sat beside the
way,
And he stops before that armless man-
‘There’s debt that I must pay.’
He tore the arms from off his trunk
To give to the
armless man:
‘Thank for the loan of these your limbs,’
The stranger began-
‘A girl who loves a legless man
Won’t miss a pair
of arms.’
And he turned and smiled at his own dear love
Displaying all his
charms.
She looked with fear at her husband dear,
But she could not
run for fright:
For better to go with one you know.
Than back to the
night
So he gave back the body of man
That never had been
his own:
He gave the heart out of his breast,
He gave the tall
backbone.
‘A girl who follows a handsome face
Is as wise as any
child.’
So the head rolled before the girl,
And caught her eyes
and smiled.
Soon we’ll be home my dearest love,
And you shall share
my bed.’
But proud Monica moaned and wept
And wished that she
were dead.
They came to a man, who had no face,
Sat there beside the
way
And he stops before that faceless man,
And he gave his flesh
away.
So now she knew her lover’s name
No need had she to
ask
On his narrow bed in the bitter earth,
She performed her
wifely task.
She lay in fear by that husband dear,
For the bone has a
cold embrace,
When life is done and beauty is gone
In a cold and lonely
place.
I assure you my tale is true,
And was since time
began;
If you cannot tell what is my mind,
Perhaps your mothers
can.
For love is like a pleasant flower
To pluck before it’s
grown,
But there are thorns in that burning bush,
Will prick you to
the bone.
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