Ilunga (Psalm 1)

Ilunga

Below the green greed canopies
Hang the web of lies
Dagger and saws,
Guns and rifle
Pleasure themselves in a mass cleansing ritual.

I am in a place

Where the road became red
Bordered by the alignment
Of Ivory gates

I am in a place
Where war was a way of life.
Rape, a ceremony of manhood

I am at a time
When refugees became the New Exodus
But
Have no Genesis or Revelations

I am in a place
Where men became boys,
Boys became men,
And women became toys.

I am at a time
When the fruits of Knowledge
Rotted among the landfills of human sin.
Tainted and corrupted
To suit One’s need.

And now,
I stand in the place
Where bullet holes were my windows.
My door used as deathbeds.

 It was not at the time or the place
That I decided to forgive and forget.

No.

It was now,then and there.
That I decided:  To forgive,
To Tolerate,
And to Hate

Author's Note

Ilunga is a bantu tern which describes a sequence that when abused for the first time he would forgive, the second time, he would tolerate and the third time he would hate. It is one of the most difficult names to translate. This poem was specifically written for my fellow Congolese.