Festival Festival archive Bombing of Poems C. For schools For organisations and companies Workshops in leisure time Upcoming workshops Spraakzaam Rotterdam. About Us. Contact us. Charles Mungoshi. Side by side. English Original language The same lazy day, later And with the night come my unfailing companions the wind and the rain: walking alongside our dreams benevolent guides into ourselves.
Unfamiliar territory. And now, my dreams are being carved and shaped to house the perfect mould of your body. And my fingers are being ground into the perfect telescope lens to probe the furthest stars in your endless darkness. Lazy day. Lazy day You, talking to my mother and sisters in the house. Outside, my father and I thrashing beans, talking about you, our plans now that we have decided to live together.
He is getting old, my father, but overnight the lines have disappeared from his face. There is laughter in the house. Father and I pause to listen: his face breaking into that complex but restful smile that knows the whims of the weather and the certainty of death. Women will always gossip, but there is laughter and light in his hoe-and-stone-stunted fingers as he continues to paint our future portraits into the family canvas.
The winter sun burns like summer. The late green leaves, the quiet electricity in the air; you could mistake it for summer.
Afterwards, you and I, holding hands. Lightly wondering where we have been all this time. Born into a farming family in , Charles Mungoshi was raised in the Chivhu area of Zimbabwe. After leaving school, he worked with the Forestry Commission before joining Textbook Sales. From to he worked at the Literature Bureau as an editor, and at Zimbabwe Publishing House for the next five years.
