STONE TOWN. AUTHOR: JORGE CANCELA
Give me a chair
and let me sit among you
as I celebrate poverty
and scarcity.
The face of the poor
remains wrinkled
because of hunger and thirst
in his stomach.
The poor man cannot eat
with the rich man
when eating fish
he eats his head.
Go and call the one
who has no bread
to come and eat crumbs
and thorns from bowls.
The poor is a nobody
since he owns nothing.
Although of noble birth
no honor is shown to him.
The poor is a snake -
his brothers avoid him
because of the misery that poverty
brings with it.
But still, when the poor gets sick,
his relatives are prompted
to do him some good;
But when the rich man gets sick,
if he wants to light a lamp,
he must ask a slave.
