CHOCOLATE

Dry mouth as the cocoa  
Baking on banana leaves  
The burden of a cloudless sky  
On air sweet as sugar cane  
   
Beans crushed    
Water from the wadi  
Pound to paste  
Don't waste these alien pods  
They'll burn a fire  
   
And the brown boot man  
Will give a day  
To tend the plot of rice  
And he will stay  
With the blank eyed girls  
Their hands as rough  
As this viper grass  
The split discarded husks  
   
Born in this field  
Die in this field eager for heaven  
   
Birthday aged eight  
Cutter and bucket  
Were his only gifts  
As this writer
Ate chocolate cake