Sheets of tin nailed to posts
driven in the ground
make up the house.
Some rags complete
the intimate landscape.
The sun slanting though cracks
welcomes the owner
After twelve hour of slave
labour.
breaking rock
shifting rock
breaking rock
shifting rock
fair weather
wet weather
breaking rock
shifting rock
Old age comes early.
A mat on dark night
is enough when he dies
gratefully
of hunger.
By Agosotinho Neto
trans. Margaret Dickinson
