MEMOIRS

{for Patrick Chimwendo who died on 27 May

and  buried on 28 May 1998, and the others}

      I still remember, being a member of the campus, 

      sitting down in your Biology class

      as you taught us in your friendly manner

      together with the betraying Judas’

      whose rancor we endured and resented

      as they persecuted and pursed us blood.

  

      and some we have lost along the way

      as some we still have, and value what they say

      and those friends we lost cheer us to hang on

      as do all these lovely friends not yet gone,

      who make us not to forget that past of trials and care,

      that past, where

  

      I still remember, being a brokenhearted member

      the solemn hymns we sadly sang

      and the somberly mood that hung

      at your unforgettable funeral, as hot bitter tears

      freely flowed on our little cheeks; real bitter tears,

      as our hearts were engulfed in deepened sorrow;

      with our muffled coughs that could only follow

      the wails, rolls, howls, bowls and growls

      of relatives and friends, and even those fiends

      which all testified, justified, magnified, quantified,

      and qualified that

      a friend, a father, an uncle, a brother, a husband, a cousin

      a citizen, a breadwinner was lost.

 

      all that and rest, shaped this, our future we all

      hoped for and now hold until we shade less tears for

      the shared laughter and lighter moments with the friends

      we still have, and even some of those fiends

      you gladly taught in your friendly manner.