Brother Poem by mariechantal tuyisabe

My brother and I were friends
Always, we played like fools
On those anthills and vales
Enclosed by mountain chains
But, sometimes, we also fought
When in iritation of a theft.

As children of nine and ten
I, The eldest
And he, the youngest
Fought like bools
When he store
My left-over meal and canes
Always, on a ground I was
So, one day, determined to a solution,
I decided to teach him a lesson,
And it was during a rainy season
That I spread a hot pepper
On my white plate, paper
That held my left-over meat and rice
I did, then took a four-litter gallon
Shaped in a form of a seedless melon
And run away for a while
For I had known that
It was going to burn like a hell
Without a dropp from a well.

Many hours later,
While I had ponded to go back home later,
Content, I was
But, also afraid was I
Imagining designs on my chocolate skin
And my father and his roar,
Made me uneasy.

Home, I took my way,
And while my gallon in a sway,
I glanced at my brother
Who smiled with nothing to bother
His wide-open smile
That walked for a mile
And assuaged my soul
Closer, I approached him and said,
'What is that smile all about? '
'You will see, you will see
What dad will do to you'
He said standing
In front of our gated house.

I continued my way home
Pretending to be brave
As a black man in a cage
And heard a lenient voice
That called my name
In a great musical cadence
This was my father
In a weird voice
That hadn't known before
Unlike the other-during our time on the shore
'Come here'. He continued
And so I drew closer
'Is it true what you had done? '
'No father. I was only trying
To get used to it like all my cousins'
'Go and never do such thing again,
And remember to repent'
And so I left
With all my body sweating
Like a drenched mouse-
In a watered hole
My father'sleniency
Has remained a mistery
But, my only brother
Has always explained
How noses and mouthes
Became Niagara falls.