CAMEROON’S ANTE MORTEM.NO COFFIN, NO GRAVE :
THE VANITY OF A STATE BURIAL: As if Poets ever lie. It was the South African poet Richard Ntiru that ridicules the vanity of state burial in his poem “No Coffin, No Grave”.The scene of an open-air mortuary is in front of a nightclub. It is at dawn after a coup D’Etat. Dogs, vultures, and scavengers are doing the post-mortem. A madman says the government has invented a gun called a Stray bullet that never misses its target. Among the dead is the corpse of a statesman awaiting a state burial. Ironically, the dead statesman’s diary revealed that he had wished to be buried like a VIP under the giant tree in his mansion. All the same, destiny respected his Will to be buried as a VIP( VERY INFERIOR PERSONALITY) with vultures, dogs and Scavengers doing the autopsy for the post-mortem. However, a semi lunatic biting a dirty loaf of bread suggested that we should bring a caterpillar to plough the land for a mass grave. On waking up from this nightmare, I heard mission bells at dawn. The Morning News talks of a seismic night and of the Mongo water flowing up streams from a flood. Then I recall a certain Dipoko talking about a cat sitting on a sinking throne waiting for its turn to die, as rats and parasites are waiting for wings to fly. Yet the optimist in me has refused to die in spite of the odds. Yes! Despite the odds, there is a flight of THIRTEEN reticent Seagulls set against the azure ambient of the ambas bay. This time, no one is going to bury the bereaved. Though buried alive, I have refused to die just because I am not a Statesman.
Bawe Louis
CAMEROON’S ANTE MORTEM.NO COFFIN, NO GRAVE :
