TROUBLE ON THE MUNGO BRIDGE
By Tikum Mbah Azonga
I heard a loud
and irresistible cry like that of an angel
And
instinctively, I lifted my head
After all, I
was near the Mungo River Bridge
And anything
could happen.
Too often, tempers
had flared here before
With each
person trying to speak louder than the other
And none
prepared to listen
Not even our
neighbors or the colonial masters
Nobody could
calm down the belligerents.
Just as I
wondered whether
God the
Almighty was seeing this waste of human energy
The sky darkened
as if it was a total eclipse
And then
suddenly brightened up again
Night gave way to day
And sunshine
took over
Then I heard
a loud thundering voice from heaven
It was an unusually
loud and commanding voice
One that
ruled the world
“Listen to
me, all of you!
Why do you quarrel
and wear yourselves out for nothing?
Return to
your various homes
Sit down and
concert among yourselves
Then come
back here.
Your
language will change!”
Then the
voice faded away slowly but increasingly
Like the
fade-in/fade-out in film-making
As it
uttered the words
“Let those
who have ears, hear!”
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