ETHIOPIA IN MY SOUL poem

Ethiopia in My Soul

Caught up in famine
the young woman replays
1984 memories--

as a child
lives tossed about in
grieving numbers
older ones weak from treks
to food centers
the young nurtured by love
with last bits of flour
rain vacant across the land.

Now grown
she is a seed from that
former journey
trekking to another place
the same fears
horror of famine a memory
but not yet in defeat
crying out for her own young:

“Return from the sky oh rain.”

© Richard L. Provencher 2008

Published Volume 2 Spring 2009
Paragon 2 A Compendium of Writing
Memorial University - Newfoundland
ISBN 978-0-88901-397-1