THURSPOETRY: Luckson Pasipanodya – Hostile Asylum

#ThursPoetry is back this week, in partnership with our friends at Gourd of Consciousness, for brand new Zimbabwean original poems.

Luckson Pasipanodya is an author born in Mberengwa District, Midlands Province. He has penned a number of poems, novels and short stories and also edited books written by upcoming authors.His poem The Impious Idol was first runner up in the Gourd of Consciousness National Poetry Writing Competition under the theme “New beginnings, addiction and recovery”.

POEM
Hostile Asylum
Location: Bulawayo

In tattered white and khaki garb,
Their hope has vanished,
The hope of liberty has drifted.
At dawn, they believe that,
They will be pardoned,
Out of the merciless law,
That incriminated them.
By default, or design,
Secluding them,
In an unsociable haven.

Their thoughts are far from recalling,
How they lived in sacred harmony,
Closer to others in the society,
Sharing jovial moments with all.

When is the presidential parole?
In case they get liberated,
Out of the stinking and solitary prison,
With uncultured prison officers,
Inflicting pain on the prisoners!

They are in jail,
For cases never committed.
Yet the real culprits,
Traverse the globe.
When shall the judicial parole,
Pay a visit to the imprisoned?

They eat anything provided.
They miss their families and relatives,
Narrating their stories is what they do.
Yes, others are at the right place,
But do they all belong there?

Some have graduated there,
Including those arrested in fives.
With no time for decent intimacy,
Hard work, strict control and isolation,
Have become their lifestyle.

They cannot change this by themselves,
Only the law that put them there can.
Tall walls, razor wired fences,
Fiery bull dogs, junk food,
And angry armed prison officers.
An inmate’s life is hopelessness.