Koofil and Doofil

the killing happens, the destruction of the lands
creation’s burial, refugees’ flight from the country
as outlaws pass among the people long suffering weak wretches
they enter the shade of the dead wood
the forest’s been destroyed by scorching sand
rotten brush, dense dead thicket
silvered tree stumps, calls of help help
somebody help the women, the children, the frail
licked by the red hot spears
the tank with lust to launch at even unpeopled places
the playful gun sight, the hollow stocked gun
the Kalashnikov, the bomb, the shortened jeep
the rolling mortars descending from the sky
napalm peeling stripping your burnt skin
the anti-tank P10, ricocheting ring
the RPG7, the smaller bazooka
and the ammunition belt at the ready
the aloes with their troubles and painful injury
standing unmilked and drinking their fill
ready for destruction sent by death
and guns and gun powder of satan, it’s not in your interest
this was the testament then of Koofil and Doofil
the ones I sent to hell and whose orders I refused
the lackey dogs
and those of their ilk saying: here boy
you countered the contempt of their fathers
with it will not be tried on me
that they now drag you down from there
go it’s not in your interest

Author: Abdulqadir Haji Ali Zaji Ahmed

Somali Poet