Hunger and Hope: Ethiopia

Night Flight of Dread and Delight

Skunder Boghossian

Ethiopia, 1964

Oil on Canvas with Collage

Moon Like A Rolled-Out Bread

by Raj Nandy

In a country devastated by famine and pestilence,
And children dying of malnutrition everyday !
When an Ethiopian gazed up at the sky at night,
And beheld the full moon before his sight -
No romantic thoughts did cross his way !
In a land of hunger, only hard prose prevails !
When poetry and verse loses its sanity,
And only hard prose protrude like the ribs -
From half-naked and starved humanity !
He tried to sing to forget his hunger,
But words failed to flow from those parched lips any longer !
And his soul hung on to his body for dear life,
Perhaps death could only give respite !

The full moon looked like a rolled-out bread !
And if only a small crumb could break and fall,
Perhaps it would be enough tonight - to feed them all !
And if by some miracle of fate,
The hungry millions of this earth,
Could lay their hands on that entire bread,
Before the arrival of any relief vans,
They will surely gobble it up, as soon as they can;
Such are the torments of hunger pangs !

Yet the full moon did shine brightly tonight,
As the Ethiopian gently closed his eyes,
God willing, and if his luck holds,
He may survive this one more night !

copyright 2008