A Poem
March 24, 2012
The tell-tale signs
Of the Mango fruit genesis
Tiny white flowers
Bloom on the tree
Dark green leaves
Small and big insects buzz
Feed on the sweet nectar
In the cold month of June
In Savannah Africa
Barely four months after
The last delicious Mango fruit
The bitter acidic taste
Of the raw Mango fruit
In the hot dry month
Of October Independence Day
The city shanty compound
Markets choked with
Unripe Mango fruits
How crude and untimely?
Come the month of December
Rains quench the parched earth
Three whole weeks
Before Christmas Day
Bright colored birds
Sing sweet melodious songs
Fly in tall green elephant grass
In the foggy early morning
Time to plant seeds
For a good harvest
This season
Time for a million plants
Insects and Mango trees
Explode with green life
Small mangoes, big mangoes named Dudu
Short mango trees, tall mango trees
Wild mangoes with bland taste
Garden whole golden yellow
Ripe mangoes
With green and yellow patches
Mango fruits ripe everywhere
On the ground and dangling
Beckoning humans, insects, animals
Alike invitingly on tree limbs
No more empty bellies
For now during the harsh
Hunger season named zinja
People, birds, insects, ants, flies
Of a thousand shapes, sizes, and colors
Rejoice
The sweet smell of the mango
It is in the air
In the house
And in dreams
The thought and dreams
Of a thousand sweet delicious
Different tastes of
The mango draws
Tears to the eye
Many fond memories
Taste buds titillated with
Unfulfilled fantasies
Of the sweet juicy mango
The bite squeezes
Yellow juices drip quickly
Down the arm soiling
Child’s only Sunday shirt
Mother chastises
Oh! what to do with stubborn
Yellow stains
The dull mango
The sweet mango
The juicy mango
The wild mango
The bitter mango
A thousand tastes flavors
And colors in between
Oh! what a joy it is
To experience
The titillating taste
Of a Million mango tastes
Oh! What a joy it is
To be alive
To live another day
To savor another mango
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The author wrote this poem in 1997. He revised it recently after eating mangoes in Zambia this past December after 20 years.