Today, I have mostly been trying to remember poetry that I last read in 1998, for my O Levels.
Thanks to facebook, I now know that the book we studied was Revival (which I am now scouring the internet for), and have managed to track down my personal favourite from the set, and one that I recited for a school production my final year in Zimbabwe.
I still love it!
Randy L. Rasmussen
If I have to leave – D.E. Barrell
If I have to leave,
…I shall take from Africa,
No assegais;
But arrows of laughter in the eyes;
From the Shona women
Sorting washing,
Stitching sheets with me
In a mutual murmer;
The flicker of black hands
Smoothing sheets
And my sons cradled in their shadow.
Laughter in the kitchen,
In the market, in the meeting place;
Shrewd glances over business
Appraising each other’s skills.
Black hands helping with sickness;
And that one wet night
As I drove her through darkness:
The awful pain of her childbirth
In my womb.
If I have to leave,
I shall take from Africa this strength,
This strange bond of women.
LeedsBookClub 
though the pedant in me requires me to point out that I actually lived with the Ndebele, not the Shona…
Hi
Is the phrase ‘ And that one wet might’ (line 17) a metaphor or personification?
I think it should be that ‘cold wet night’ and I likely mistyped!
I’ll double check tomorrow when my brain is fresh.
In the dark recesses of my brain, I seem to recall a beloved English teacher explaining that the poet was alluding to childbirth necessities in rural areas – comforting arms of a mid-wife?
But I’ll have a proper look in the light.
Delighted that you’ve found this and commented!!
why does the poet contrasts ‘No assegais’ with ‘arrows of laughter’
I need the answer to why the poet contrasts “no assegais” with “arrows of laughter”