Machete
in 1994
the beast awoke
and again cast his eye
to Africa
Rwanda was ripe
densely populated
a nation that is blessed with
a luscious natural beauty
the signal was murder
President Habyarimana
shot down by rockets
from the sky above Kigali
Cyprien Nataryamir
Leader of Burundi
assassinated also
in the opening atrocity
Agathe Uwiligiyamana
Rwandan Prime Minister
planned to make a broadcast
appealing for calm
she was shot in Kigali
along with her husband
her ten U.N. bodyguards
died by machete
a highly efficient
implement for cutting
selling very cheaply
a weapon for two dollars
the ten Belgian peace-keepers
were hacked in the tendons
then castrated
and finally choked
Kigali exploded
a terrible orgy
rape and mutilation
neighbour slaying neighbour
in a rural village
a young man tried to stop them
he was hacked to pieces
death by machete
members of the death squad
in certain cases
soon gained a taste for
the blood of cockroaches
in Butare
Queen Gicanda
executed
behind the museum
we watched television
death-toll in Rwanda
our leaders ignored it
genocide
last night I had a vision
a boy from Rwanda
I heard him speak his last words
“Please not my sister”
he said he had a message
he wants us to listen
the beast has awoken
and the sunlight glistens
on the blade of his machete