Rise and fall of geniuses (5, 6, 7, 8) — Peter B. Cuktu

5. Rise and fall of geniuses
Some climbing and crashing
For search of daily bread –
Husks, fragments,
Boiled-salted leaves
Are delicious meals
Anything can fill
The empty stomach,
But hardly a day passes
Without the mention
To this great "lack" –
Stripped of everything
It's major cause to aggressive behaviour
Anchored in great sacrifices –
Morally and physically.

6. What are the whys and wherefores
Of this drought menace?:
Sending thousands on the flight,
Lovers, relatives, parents and children
Scattered and divided in dismay;
Pace of progress and civilization delayed
Social amenities denied: diseases caused;
Human status reduced to nothing
Costly animals sold for few kobo;
Oh! Life does not promise
All of us milk and sugar
For life is ironical, an embodiment
Of sorrow and happiness –
Today it is drought
Tomorrow it is flood,
It was a prayer for lack of rain
Now it is flood sweeping bridges
Ours is a drought-hit area
Others are flood-hit ones
This mourning-laughing world
Belongs to "haves" and "have nots".

7. Majority voiced open concern
Relentlessly and vigorously opposed to
Continuous drought subversion
But day after day
The plague infiltrated, roasting plants,
Arresting and chaining many.

8. The rainy clouds are pregnant –
When entire nations mobilized
Assistance poured. Drought resisting
Trees planted by all means
The plague of drought checked
The rain came in abundance
The parching drought halted fast