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.

Comments

Unknown said…
wow you did this
yea, i did it baby Rejoice?

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