Habtamu

 Habtamu


It was a rough morning,
for 'Aaron the Tourist'.

I arrived at 5am to the gates of The Lalibela's rock hewn churches,
I was there to meditate in prayer,
yet,
when I arrived at the gates,
the guardian of the gate asked for my ticket,
and upon showing him my ticket,
he asked for my passport,
which I did not have,
and was therefore promptly denied entry.
What made matters worse was the lack of communication,
the language barrier between me and the guard was upsetting,
and I had to count my breaths to keep calm.

Anyways,
after about an hour of being a stuck up spoiled tourist,
upset at such a small thing,
I found myself deep inside St. Mary's church,
explaining the whole ordeal to a young Ethiopian man named Habtamu.
He apologized for my inconvenience,
and invited me to breakfast with him at his home.
Ethiopians are very good at apologizing for other Ethiopians,
there's a balance of extremities in this country,
the likes of which I have never witnessed in such magnitude,
there always seems to be an overly polite person,
ready to apologize,
for a profusely rude person,
in Ethiopia.
At first,
I respectfully declined his offer,
refusing mostly out of shame,
yet,
after some persistence,
I conceded to his hospitable offer,
and agreed to go to his home for breakfast.

I prayed in meditation for 7 hours,
7 hours,
then the young man retrieved me to break my fast.

He led me down a secret passageway,
out of the church grounds,
and along a ridged dirt road,
for fifteen minutes we walked,
until we reached his home.

His home was a modest 10 foot by 10 foot square cement room,
no bathroom,
no kitchen,
just a living room with a bed.
What struck me the most about his little home,
was how clean he kept everything.
Every thing was in order.
Shoes came off at the door,
and there were no insects of any kind,
not even flies,
roaming around or flying in his room.
Habtamu lives alone,
no girlfriend,
no parents,
I witness him prepare a magnificent feast for us,
all from one small pot to cook with,
and some vegetables for ingredients.
Habtamu begins to serve the 7 course all vegetarian meal,
laying the different colored dishes upon fresh injera,
the injera looking like an artist palette,
the different veggies looking like textured paints,
and as I observe all of this,
I think to myself,
"How can someone living so simply,
create such complex food,
all from only one pot.
How can someone with so little,
give so much,
to a total stranger?"
From these questions I then thought,
"How could I be so ungrateful,
for all the blessings in my life,
when I have so much?"
So with that thought,
in that awareness,
I will stop writing now,
and before I break fast with this meal,
and with this man,
I will pray with him,
and we will really give thanks,
Give Thanks,
and Praise.


∆aron L∆ Lux ∆

Poetry Vol. 1, available for FREE, 10/10/14 on Amazon