Coming in to land at Harare International Airport in Zimbabwe

Hasani is a poet from Zimbabwe who left the country due to political strife. He writes protest poetry and advocates for recognition of human rights and justice in Zimbabwe. He currently lives in London.

Below is one of his poems – this one is about the land.

The Land

The soft sound of the ploughshare
As it cuts through the wet, rich earth
An acrid smell of sweat from labourers
As they bend to their toil.

A dark cloud hangs above the sky
Heavy with rain, waiting for the peasants
To finish the hedging and ditching
Of the land
Before it opens its floodgates.

And the land, like a helpless patient, lies
As new veins are cut through it
To contain the fury of the rain.

Land the food provider
Land the cause of wars
Land the maker of landlords, landowners, land barons

We spit on you, we shit on you, we piss on you
You are our mother, nourishing all your children
Worker and idle alike.

Greedy and cruel you have made the honest man
He covets you.
‘Sons of the soil’, he shouts,
‘Take up arms and reclaim your land!’

Whose land?  His land?
My land
Our land

Please click on  “Freedom from Torture”  to see more of Hasani’s poetry.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2018