I tried to learn poetry when my eyes were tired and sick,
When my heart could not fathom the sorrow of damages
That HDTV news event picks
Of a fire that engulfs an endangered park or a saintly-blessed cathedral
With smoke rising up in the sky like a spiral,
Amd all I can tell was what I heard many years back
A tell-tale story from a pupil, who scored the best mark,
Once a film star mamed Widmark,
Travelled in Addis with a horse-drawn cart and a bike,
From the then New Market to today’s Bole Michael,
He rode and drove as if caught by a spell,
And the story is told he asked where the most blooming part is found,
The centre of the city where high-storey edifices unfold,
Where very tall buildings scrape the sky,
On top of cumulous clouds where usually lonely towers lie,
Many years’s elapsed before the film actor came to judge his past,
Where else but to the farthest remote site;
Where chicken sauce with spicy flavour, be it windy or cold draught,
Is taught to time-tested maidens for Easter feast as an art and a craft.
The Ethiopian Herald May 04/ 2011
BY BERHANU TIBEBU ZEWOLDE
