Dr Fixit (4341 - 4350)

  

4341

its action the serpent put to a halt

but he did something that the farmer appalled,

turning to harass the farmer why he alone

should stay by and be disturbing his feeding zone.

That irked the brawny soldier ant

who a string of nasty words did rant

at the serpent and his impunity; the hoe

he aimed and flung for a possibly deadly blow

and no one told the cobra to put his puffed head

swiftly down and streaked away with dread.

 

4342

As the hoe thudded down and cobra streaked away,

the bush fowl turned around and saw a nasty day

it had escaped and thankfully raised its wings up

and landed and sang long on a plant top.

We said nought to ourselves but observed

and hung there till what was reserved –

the fury of the storm – the sky vented

on the earth and to our pants we were wetted

but I told Crookedmouthit we’d hang there a bit;

and we did till chattering were our teeth.

4343

While climbing down I openly told him:

‘Observe.’ He did but with a countenance grim.

I said: ‘Now you feel the cold, who’d best tell it?’

He got the gist, nodded and his chest did beat.

I told him, ‘Wait.’ I moved forward and picked

a polythene wrapping the farmer had flicked

on the ground as back home he rushed,

tore it into two, gave my friend one and one I clutched

and said to him: ‘Observe and do as I do.’

All the while I went on with my act, he had me in view.

 

4344

Like a scarf on a woman’s head to conceal

her hair from water and dust so we did veil

our heads with the pieces of polythene

and in minutes I asked: ‘How do you feel within?’

‘I observe the heat is gathering up in my head

and I definitely wouldn’t need to bet

that in a couple more seconds my entire body

could be warm.’ ‘Observe under a brolly,

from a tower or burrow down the mine;

greediness you’d portray well if you see the swine

 

4345

‘gather round a table as they dine

but with a bit of humour, all these underline.

Life is too serious and folks everywhere just want

to laugh.’ My friend stared long not grasping the point

of a serious life and folks needing a laugh

so I tried to see him through what sounded like a gaffe.

‘I’d take you to the chickens in our home.

With cockroach or grasshopper, they own the throne.

They’d grab and pound it repeatedly on the ground,

gobble it and for more waltz around.

4346

‘They have one united front fighting feeble foes

and in lean times, you see them exchange blows

and scratch their eyes out with their toes

and when from the sky the hawk its missile throws,

the bawling chickens give the hate sound

which they force others to make when they pound.

Grave things happen daily in life

but to give hope must everyone tote a knife?

To iron out a crease, must we burn the cloth?

A true scribe should charmingly spice his broth.

 

4347

‘Importantly, observe to understand

and what you know would colour your brand.’

When my point rang home, we returned in a jolly mood

but I apologized for my scripting tricks quite rude

which I lavishly handed down to my aide

but to be the best, he’d need to mine his head.

The rain had stopped when I crossed my threshold,

took a hot bath and being alone in our household,

I moved to my writing desk to prolong

my new script and my thoughts all wrong

 

4348

were going and my pen over the pad just hovered

and then, the pen down on the pad just clobbered.

I walked across to the window to peep outside

and tried to put a finger on why I couldn’t write.

I saw two brown doves fighting or mating –

which was which I just didn’t know but they were flitting,

cooing and clawing one another on the roofs

and trees around my ancestral home and droves

of tits overhead swing in and out of view again –

we’d lots of birds, fruit trees and palms in my home terrain.

4349

At times, my thoughts fluctuated if in Sandit

or here I should site my personal home and I did

cherish Yellow Lake much being my maternal grandma’s

place but it was now replete with razzmatazz

with its rapidly changing landscape – the pushcarts

and the strident calls around the markets and parks;

the rat-drawn carts that endlessly trundled down

the highways; though Yellow Lake gave me my crown,

I’d only visit it now but not make it my residence

and my great love for it could be seen in the incidents

 

4350

I created in my scripts with memories

held down from childhood but great stories

great men and great women in all of our clans

were penning on the pages of a serene site of plants

and trees that was reserved for the well-to-do –

they were raising castles on a strip with river view

where the loudest noise was at opposite bank

occasionally made by a passing train when its horn sang

and its wheels atop the rails also did dance

as it took human stuff to different towns.