WE WERE TOLD We were told not to sit on crossroads in the dark for the cardinal points of the earth converge with our carnal desires and like the sun not to look at Magji in the eye for we may be blinded by his wisdom We were told never ever to eat with our left hands and above all never to take money with the left so when Marx died we robbed our banks washed our hands and laughed And we were told not to stay too long in the river even the log has not turned into a croc, they said We were asked to stand on the roadside and wave our flags and sing hymns of nationhood and soon we picked up their refrain: “Hurrah, we’re independent!”. From “Recollections of a Lost Century” by Hamadi Banna ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------