Kebedech Tekleab

Medicine

Translated from the Ethiopian Amharic by Chris Beckett, B. Selassie,
and Kebedech Tekleab

for the Ethiopian officers kept for eleven years in solitary
confinement in Lanta Bur military prison in Somalia

Who else but a man
can cure a man?
can ease his body’s ills
and his mind’s abuse?
for his eyes
horizon, edging sky,
is a tonic,
for his feet, the steps
of never-ending
journeys,
for his thirst
a belly of sweet water,
grain for hunger,
lungfuls of fresh air for joy . . .
            but let his
            vision
            be restricted
            feet fettered
            stomach blocked
            mouth dry
            from hardly drinking
            mind abuzz
            and furrowing
            with sadness . . .
            still the worst cruelty
            of all
            is isolation . . .
            oh! what medicine
            replaces
            that other person
            in the room?