I
Early
in the morning
Just
after the false dawn
Just
after I pray my daily Dawn Prayer
Just
when one can tell
A
white cat from a black cat
Or
A
white thread from a black thread
Just
before I break the fast
I
trot out all my troubles
On
leashes
And
take them out for a walk
Like
dogs.
II
When
they do their doo-doo
on the neighbors’ lawns
As
dogs would do
I
stoop
I
scoop
I
dump their doo-doo
Into
the manhole of the city
Into
the sewage system of the Montreal city.
III
As
I walk with Allah
As
I talk with Allah
Who
is closer to me than my life
jugular vein
I
sing my morning song of Gratitude
and Praise
Which I owe Him
I
also sing aloud of His Might
and Majesty
Yea
I
also sing aloud of His Mercy
in the morning.
III
When
I return
From
my walk with God
From
my talk with God
The
troubles follow me
Trooping
Right
back into the house
As
loyal dogs would do
And
collapse down on the carpet
Into
a canine heap of panting thirsty slobbery hungry
hanging-out tongues
Since
they are now all too pooped out
To
protest
To
bark
To
bite
Like
Ina
Yay
does
When
Meles
makes
him to
Since
they all know now I won’t brook any barking
back-talk
Since
they are all now amenable to persuasion
Since
they all know now
that I won’t take any lip from any of them
Since
they are now ready and ripe for the picking
I
bring out my Great Big Bertha of a gun
I
pick them out
One
by one
And
put down all of my black
dogs out
of their misery
Forever.
—Mahamud Siyad Togane
NOTES
Black
dog: That is the name Winston Churchill gave to
his own haunting depression.
Gratitude
and Praise which I owe Him:
“I Owe the Lord a Morning Song of gratitude and
praise” is a favorite hymn of mine written by one
called Amos Herr (1890)
Ina
Yay:
The puppet of Meles; The moniker of Abdullahi Yusuf
who is now the President of Somalia.
Life
jugular vein:
The Holy Koran says and I cite: “We created
man and We [even] know the promptings of his mind.
We are closer to him than his life vein. (50:16) And
We
are nearer to him than his jugular vein.”
“We
created man, and we know what his soul whispers
within him; and we are nearer unto him than his
jugular vein.
(The Holy Quran, [50:16])
"It
was We who created man, and We know that dark
suggestions his soul makes to him: for We are nearer
to him than (his) jugular vein." (The Holy
Quran, [50:16])
Meles:
The puppeteer of the puppet Ina Yay; Ato
Meles Zenawi
is
the current tyrant of Ethiopia whose dream is to
always obfuscate, to always frustrate the hope and
the dream of every Somali of re-establishing the
Somali nation-state.
Mercy
in the morning: See Ps 59: 16.
Might
and Majesty:
“There is no Majesty and there is no Might save
in Allah!” is a common Moslem prayer.
