Umaru Fofana is a journalist based in Freetown.

 

Guns, Man and Death

Gun, alone, not kills
Man, alone, kills
Man manufactures the gun
Man pulls the trigger on the gun

The killer seeing it as fun
Even with another man gone
Manufacturing guns may be part of life
But at the expense of another man's life?

Not sure whither art thou headed
How mankind has condescended!
Supplying guns to people
Who have holes in their jaws, not dimple

From Afghanistan to India
Where human lives are not dear
From Somalia to Sierra Leone
Where nobody is left on their own

Man, only specie, not for feed or defence each other kills
Even lower species enjoy each other's thrills
How sad, that Adam's children
Can become Satan's brethren

 

The Cotton Tree

The Cotton Tree!
With giant branches it imposes
With bats singing and sleeping in their houses
Depicting the ripeness of its fruits

The Cotton Tree!
With roots so ripped apart
And barb not so much its part
Yet its branches so strong and leaves so fresh

The Cotton Tree!
Its stems and feet painted in red
Managing to rescue only its head
Thanks only to the rains so green that pattered

The Cotton Tree!
Flanked by the shrub with the most important fruit
And the mountain with the strongest foot
Not having the potential to be greatest tree?

The Cotton Tree!
Fresh in the dries, fresh in the rains
A stature so important with so many grains
So green and…yes…so fine