WHY
WERE YOU NOT ZUSYA OF HANIPOLI
In
the world to come
They
will not ask me
Why
were you not
Rabbi
Zusya of Hanipoli
They
will ask me
Why
were you not
Sheikh
Togane of Shabele River?
They
will not ask me
Why
were you not
Hadrawi
The
Issaq poet of the Somali people?
They
will ask me
Why
were you not
Togane
The
Americanized Abgal poet of the Somali people?
In
the world to come
They
will not ask me
Why
were you not
Lucille
Marr
Gracefully
Preaching
The
Amazing Grace of God
They
will ask me
Why
were you not
Togane?
They
will not ask me
Why
were you not
Jean-Jacques
Goulet
A
living illustration
In
Technicolor
Of
what Billy Blake must have meant
When
he preached
Exuberance
is beauty
Energy
is eternal delight
They
will ask me
Why
were not
Togane?
In
the world to come
They
won’t ask me
Why
were you not
Duncan
Schellenberg
Who
is
A
polyglot
A
polymath
A
healer of the body
A
soothing singer of the soul
A
man of letters
A
mesmerizing spellbinder
&
The
greatest maker of café cappuccino
This
side of Paradise
In
the world to come
I
am cocksure
They
will ask me
Why
were you not
Togane?
That
is why I dig
My
stick
My
shtick of being
Mr.
T.
That
is why I fight
Beings
Powers
Principalities
Bastards
Day
& night
Just
to be me
Just
to be Togane
For
in the world to come
They
will be sure to ask me
Why
were you not
Sheikh Togane of
the Shabelle River?
Mohamud Togane
