MY SHADOW, COURAGE by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali
My shadow is a fox-terrier named
Courage; it follows me wherever I go,
it snarls and snaps at all gremlins
that lie in my path waiting to ambush me;
it stops to sniff, sneeze and piss on a telegraph pole,
and leave a message for every potential follower,
'I passed here; follow if you dare'
Alas! that night I heard 'The knock'
it was at the door of my heart,
the knock that deflates your balls,
the knock that makes your hair roots
run tip-toed in circles on your head.
O! Courage! you deserted me,
you tucked your tail under the legs
and crept into a ragged bed of fleas
leaving my nakedness exposed
I shivered for the snake suit
shed in the grass.
Fingers digging at the sockets,
my eyes flew with fear
and teardrops parachuted out.
A nose poked the navel with a deep stick
and out fled a pair of laughing lice
giggling like benzine drunk urchins
evicted from my bountiful pantry of poems.
I looked at my watch,
it was long past midnight.
My teeth itched to sew a thread
on a piece of bread-and-soup.
My hand groped for the doorknob of daybreak
and the morning mist smacked my face awake.
I looked at myself.
There I was. Shadowless there I was.
Empty, like a hulk
waiting for a demolition squad
O! Courage have you forsaken me forever?
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