WESTERN CIVILIZATION
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.