WESTERN CIVILIZATION by Augostinho Neto (Angola)

 


WESTERN CIVILIZATION by Augostinho Neto (Angola)

 

(Translated from Portuguese by Margret Dickinson)

 

Sheets of tin nailed to posts

driven in the ground

make up the house

 

Some rags complete

the intimate landscape.

 

The sun slanting through cracks

welcomes the owner

 

After twelve hours of slave

labour.

breaking rock

shifting rock

breaking rock

shifting rock

fair weather

wet weather

breaking rock

shifting rock

 

Old age comes early

 

a mat on dark nights

is enough when he dies

gratefully

of hunger.

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