REMEMBERING ESHETU CHOLE

Here are some poems in English written by the late Dr. Eshetu Chole:

The Traveler (1962)

It was a cool and starry night
As I lay back upon the dark grass
That a thought passed through my mind

Amidst te blaze of the heavenly stars
I felt at (a)loss
the loss of a traveler in a strange land.

A sudden fear flashed across my heart,
A thought of thing long-gone and things to come
And my weary body shook and froze.

For I knew the world was no man's land
Strange, unexplored and always young.
I thought at once of the distance I had gone
And the distance yet to come.
And with the sigh of tired traveler
I let these words go forth.

" I am a traveler in a very strange land".
A traveler without guide,
A land without a gun.

DARKNESS (1963)

Dark was all--
Darknes I fear
Evil though it evokes
Sad memories it recalls.

I sat in a dark room
Seeing images of things that never were
Hearing sounds that were not made.

I sat there silently,
Waiting, hope ever increasing
For light to replace darkness
And relieve me of my pains.

RETROSPECT (1963)

Far are those days,
Far in a distant past
But their memories still shine.

Gone are the days of youth,
The days of mirth and laughter;
Weak are those eyes that once glowed with fire
With their flame burnt out;
ime has whitened the hair that was once black
Wrinkles have invaded that smooth and shiny face.

Gone are those days when we were innocently playful--
Gone too with them is the vigour of life;
Cold is the heart that once was warm with love,
And the hot and lively blood
Has given way to coldness,
The coldness that heralds
The nearing of the end.