The Boy And The Mango Poem by Ernest Elliot Daka

He was ten and looked bare
Together our age was twenty-eight
He could neither read nor write
His teeth, he treasured and kept white
An orphan, he was the son of the village
The boy called Vali who laughed often
I called him Valentine for he loved all

My maiden visit and Vali my tutor
And yet I, too, would tutor in life
"This here is the village mango tree"
My first lesson began and I nodded, smilingly
And I learn from Vali, all things great and small
To heard the cattle, to milk the cow and the goat
To brush my teeth twice everyday
To swim in the river and avoid the ticks
And so much from someone so small and young
My Valentine knew so much but to read and write

In seven days he learnt to write his name
In seven days he could count from one to ten
In seven days he could recite the vowels
In seven days he could recite our Lord's prayer
In seven days he learnt about God and son
In seven days only, for that's all the time I had
In seven days we became good friends
In seven days, he was mine, my Valentine

And now, my time to go and leave my Vali
The people are there to bid goodbyes
Everybody but Vali, my Valentine
But I can't go without his goodbyes
So, frantically, I look for him left and right
As the Land-Rover begins to rev and rev
The village too, helps to look for him
But Vali, nobody can find my Valentine
And so I go with no goodbyes of Vali

Stop the car! Stop the car! The village wails
Look, yonder! A small figure running and waiving
The small figure falling and running and falling
I jump off and run towards the Boy, my Vali
As he jumps into my arms crying, a mango in hand
"Osaluta, osaluta! " He screams in local, don't go, don't go
I'm holding him tightly, allowing my tears to flow
As he holds the big mango, his gift to me

Peeeeh! Peeeeh! The horn, the Land-Rover!
And Vali, my Vali screams on, "Osaluta, Osaluta! "
The village watches in silence as I stand my Vali
Still crying, he gives me the mango, my mango
My eyes burn and my tears flow, for I must go
I embrace him one more time and he cries all the more
But I must go and so, mango in hand I go
VALI waves goodbyes in tears, I wave my mango, sobbing
Goodbye my Vali, Goodbye my Valentine