Poem
Chris Magadza
SAD REMINDER
SAD REMINDER
SAD REMINDER
There:
Among the lion and
Elephant spoor,
Scratched by hornbill talons,
And dented by buffalo hoof;
Half-gouged by baboon
Searching for
Beetles in the dung,
Was the rhino footprint:
Like an old faded photo
Of a distant cousin
Thrown up among
The family trash –
A fossil imprint
On ancient rock,
No more to die –
A silent eternal rebuke.
Oh you doomed one.
Among the lion and
Elephant spoor,
Scratched by hornbill talons,
And dented by buffalo hoof;
Half-gouged by baboon
Searching for
Beetles in the dung,
Was the rhino footprint:
Like an old faded photo
Of a distant cousin
Thrown up among
The family trash –
A fossil imprint
On ancient rock,
No more to die –
A silent eternal rebuke.
Oh you doomed one.
© 2006, Chris Magadza
From: Father and other poems
Publisher: Poetry International Web,
From: Father and other poems
Publisher: Poetry International Web,
Kariba, 1995
‘Sad Reminder’ refers to the discovery of a rhinoceros footprint in the
Zambezi valley near Kariba, where rhinos abounded before poachers
decimated them.
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Poems of Chris Magadza
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SAD REMINDER
There:
Among the lion and
Elephant spoor,
Scratched by hornbill talons,
And dented by buffalo hoof;
Half-gouged by baboon
Searching for
Beetles in the dung,
Was the rhino footprint:
Like an old faded photo
Of a distant cousin
Thrown up among
The family trash –
A fossil imprint
On ancient rock,
No more to die –
A silent eternal rebuke.
Oh you doomed one.
Among the lion and
Elephant spoor,
Scratched by hornbill talons,
And dented by buffalo hoof;
Half-gouged by baboon
Searching for
Beetles in the dung,
Was the rhino footprint:
Like an old faded photo
Of a distant cousin
Thrown up among
The family trash –
A fossil imprint
On ancient rock,
No more to die –
A silent eternal rebuke.
Oh you doomed one.
From: Father and other poems
Kariba, 1995
‘Sad Reminder’ refers to the discovery of a rhinoceros footprint in the
Zambezi valley near Kariba, where rhinos abounded before poachers
decimated them.
SAD REMINDER
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