O man of power Do you not see the pain In the eyes Of all those grieving souls Staring straight at you Do you not hear the screams Of all the trees and birds and lizards The anguished pleas Of the fleas and the bees Buzzing around you Do you not hear The violent protests Of the earth Everywhere you go Do you not hear the cries Of abused power From the silent hell Of violent history Do you not see the sadness On the faces Of the passing clouds As they watch you fall From the blows of Your own power
-Baba
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone
Nice poem ! I like the apparent simplicity. Some interesting imagery and irony. Baba Galleh has presented us a leader whose relentless abuse of power has 'earned' him the disapproval of everything under the sun: humans, animals, insects, trees, the earth, and the clouds. This abuse of power is bringing about the destruction of the tyrant as it always happened in history. "Sad clouds", here clouds are treated as living beings with feelings. However, the irony is that the destruction of the tyrant which should be a happy occasion is watched with sadness. The buzzing of fleas and bees appears to be an irony as well in that bees are often attracted to sweetness and delicacy while fleas may be attracted to scourge and filth. Baba might as well be depicting the condition in his home country of The Gambia and its powerful ruler. I hope other analysts and critics with a better understanding an d familiarity of Baba's thought processes provide a better insight into the poem, Sad Clouds.
Sad Clouds
Posted - 22 Jul 2016 : 11:56:50
