Leafy,
arrogant,
potbellied
and
bastion
wide
crown,
misshapen
its
hanging fruits
like
Christmas ornaments
such is
my tree.
Every
year
present
in a burning sun,
as my
witness,
it sees
my gift.
Every
year
on this
festive day,
the
ritual is the same
I unwrap
the gift:
a book,
always a
book,
and in
the notable strains
that
endure,
I sit,
I thresh
it
I enjoy
it
calmly
and quietly.
It is my
Christmas tree
wide,
enormous,
misshapen
it
embraces me;
the
múcua* are the fruits
like
Christmas decorations
hanging
invariably
brownish!
t is my
Christmas tree
it is
the Baobab**!
(Lisbon,
December 2010)
*múcua:
fruit of the Baobab tree
** In
Angola, the Baobab tree is called “Imbondeiro” or “Embondeiro”.
Poem
published in my book "Mazuí, poems, stories, and other words," pages
80 to 82, edition by Perfil Criativo Edições / Autores.club, November 2019. All
my poetry is published under the pseudony Lobitino Almeida Ngola.
[image
created by the author]