"Our wombs cry for our sons, [...] Where are the flowers of our lives, Kaleb? Why have you pinned down our love To rust in a scavenging day? Where are our men, Kaleb? Why have you hung our womb to dry Beyond the darkness of time? Our breasts hurt, demanding What visitation ravaged our essence. The sleepless spirits Accuse our thoughts, Kaleb. The season of mothers Question our dreamless nights. Our wombs cry for our sons, Our feet fret for their sight. Where are the flowers of our lives, Kaleb?" This is the 'Mothers' Chorus' in the play 'Collision of Altars' written by Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin and published in 1977. Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin wrote this historical play set in the Axumite empire at the time of Kaleb, the famous emperor of Axum - he is known as Ella-Asbeha (transposed by inebriated Greeks as ' Hellestheaeus '.... talk about slurping...) Kaleb is reported to have gone into Yemen several times to try to recover his lost territory there. Every at...
Blog dedicated to Algerian literature. الجزائر تكتب