Thirty centimes is all the money I have left
But am full of hope without knowing why.
I laugh at the world and laugh at myself
Something of a child at thirty-five.
It has been a hard life since I ran out of cynicism
And stopped selling for a commission
Just any newspaper in the world
Deciding exclusively on pamphlets of the Left
By which I am now earning death by installment
On a starvation diet
And the rent is long overdue.
Surely this is not a way of earning a living
Peddling slogans of a better world
In the garrison of troops armed to defend these cruel days.
But the struggle must continue
And we must open new fronts even in our dreams.
Mbella Sonne Dipoko is the author of two novels A Few Nights and Days (Heinemann, 1966) and Because of Women (Heinemann, 1974), and a poetry collection, Black and White in Love (Heinemann 1972). He resides in Cameroon.
Photo by Orock Eta
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