BY ALEM HAILU
From the 4 corners of Addis
Sunday school students
At a Meskel Square make a throng
All the way beating a drum
Ululating and singing a song
With a passion strong.
“Queen Helena (Elene)
Mother of Constantine the Great
Found the true cross
Buried under
A dump-mountain long
By those whoreadJesus
The incarnated word wrong.”
“Advised by a monk
Led by an incense smoke
The whereabouts of the place
As she saw in her dream/revelation
(326AD)
She managed to unlock.”
The n-curve of the smoke
As a pointer
Allowed her a go ahead
To dig the mountain
Beneath its bed.
That is what Ethiopia
Has been zealous to date
(For over1600 years)
To commemorate.
At sundown
When by the patriarch
And the mayor
The bonfire is lit
Priests and deacons
Sing and dance circling it.
An electrifying vibe
Overwhelms
Spectators spirit
Proving the event
A hit.
“The cross is power,
Perseverance
And soul’s medicine
An antidote to our sin! “
An ocean of vigil light
Accentuated by the darkness
Of the night
Allows souls’ flight
To the extreme height.
At last if the bonfire
Falls towards the right
It will be
Celebrants delight
Specially if a rain
Puts the fire out.
Celebrants return
To their home
To attend petty
Similar events
That ripples across
The nation
In the same fashion.
On the morrow
Returning back
To the ashes’ bed
They draw a cross
On their forehead.
On 26 Sep
Touristsin droves
Come
To Ethiopia
For a first hand knowledge
“ Ethiopia raises
Its hand to God
Demonstrated many fold.”
Here reflecting is a wise thing
In the division of the cross
To avoid a similar thing
Ethiopia(During the Era of
its emperor Dawit/Middle age)
has received
The right wing.
At a cross-like
Mountainous road
It is placed
At Geishen Mary’s church
Which the laity takes
As saint Mary’s abode.
The Ethiopian Herald September 26/2021
