My Shoulders - a tribute.

My strong shoulders are two:
My mother and my father.
The kindred pampered me
With their shoulders.

Now in my autumn days,
I’ve learnt how hard it’s to
Rear and endear even one child.

Then, my primary shoulders at
School are my preceptors who
Gave a tongue a language.

My secondary school educators
Are the additional pillars.
My friends and playmates too
Cheered me up with
Their broad shoulders.

I learnt the wisdom from
My rivals’ shoulders:
Some were really wise
And some were otherwise.
Yet, I learned something precious.

But I must confess:
My varsity shoulders gave
My senses a critical phase
To the voyage of self discovery -
As old head on young shoulders.

Here comes my other shoulder
Who shared half a dozen responsibilities
And shouldered them to peak
Of scholarly success
As starry badges at our shoulders,
Hence my better-half.

At work, the Seniors and the juniors’
Shoulders with their sharp
And contradictory instructions,
The adults with their receptive and
The tiny taughts with their blank minds,
Boosted me to where and
What I am with the
Hardened scholastic muscles.

The exhausting journeys,
The tempestuous voyages
And the turbulent flights
Shouldered me to different cultural harmonies:
If you don’t travel, you’ll marry your sister#.

They needed our shoulders
In their spring. My shoulders,
In my winter, show this world
How dependent are the humans!

The two angels* at the right
And left shoulders record
My deeds throughout …
For my last voyage.

Who will offer me
The last shoulders?
Neither the cars nor the hearse.
But, of course, the grateful
Communities I served
Diligently and wholeheartedly,
With their good wishes
Which will enhance the
Weight of my right
Shoulder’s positive records.

On my arrival in Venda, a retired miner blessed me:
Teacher! teach our children even if
You are sixty-five. You must die here.



# Venda Culture: a witty proverb
*God has assigned two angels to record our deeds, one on each shoulder of our body. Right side angel records the good deeds and the left one notes down the evil ones. As a result, if the weight of the positive deeds at the right side shoulder is heavier than the evil ones at the left, we shall be rewarded with the heavenly Eden Garden …

15 August 2009