By Kwesi Atta Sakyi

Lusaka, 10th March 2014

Ode to a heavy downpour
That fateful and frightful day in early March,
The entire Lusaka sky was leaden dark and overcast,
It was laden with pitch dark clouds,
As dark and ominous as two moonless midnights combined,
Daylight turned into greyish gloom,
As cumulo-nimbus clouds straddled the sky,
The impending storm announced its entrance
With flashes of lightening and peals of thunderous thunderclaps,
The sky was a scene of turbulent warfare among the elements

The tree crowns became dark green
Against the silhouette of the Lusaka skyline,
To me, the sky was pregnant and heavy with child from the rain god,
When months back, the hot weather had intercourse with the water bodies,
But which midwife would deliver the child of a god?

The rain broke lose, and it poured and poured and poured relentlessly,
Raining a torrent of faceless cats and dogs,
Almost the entire city remained indoors in offices and homes,
Caged behind bars by a torrential deluge,
It rained and rained till the ground was choked,
It could no more drink the run-off,

The limestone, artesian and aquifer formations,
Had no more pores to soak in the downpour,
Lusaka drainages burst their seams, it seemed,
Industrial areas, residential areas, offices-
All became theatres of water manoeuvres,
Reminding city dwellers, drainages are neither sufficient nor efficient,

City dwellers accused Lusaka City Council,
Lusaka City Council blamed road contractors,
Road contractors castigated central government,
Central government put the buck on donor community and cooperating partners,
The blame game went in a circle, in a circus,
The streets of Lusaka had turned rivers
On which ships could steam and Venetian Gondolas could ply,
The deep deluge inundated streets and pedestrian sidewalks,
Many workers walking home got stranded in pools and poodles,
As well as mighty oceans in the worst-hit areas

Oh, that was a watery way for wayward wenches,
To wade through to meet their dates
Alas, the rain had kept date also with the late evening,
Hunters and their prey could not drink their Hunter’s Gold in their haunts,
Yes, it rained deep into the night,
It rained and rained as never before,
As if the windows of heaven were wide open,
And the sky itself was like a badly leaking roof,
Most appointments became disappointments, and missed appointments,
Everyone in Lusaka that day in March had rain appointment,
It was indeed, a real rainy day that Monday, 10th March in Lusaka
© 2014 Kwesi Atta Sakyi
kwesiattasakyi449@gmail.com