THE LAST LECTURE BEFORE LUNCH

THE LAST LECTURE BEFORE LUNCH.


Twelve minutes before lunch
on my stomach I begin to munch.
This classroom heat has got me beat.
My eyes are heavy , I am about to fall asleep.
I am kept awake by the steady beat
Tika- tip, tika- tip , tika tip
of my neighbour’s tapping feet.
Tika-tip , TIKA-TIP, TIKA-TIP !
Forty-eight beats to a minute
TIKA-TIP ! TIKA-TIP ! TIKA-TIP !
At a school desk beside me he seats
TIKA-TIP , TIKA-tip , tika-tip,
arms on the desk, head bowed down as in a prayer meet,
Tika -tip, tika-tip, tika…tip
…… ……tip…………………….
…………………..tip.
My neighbour has fallen asleep.


Yahya Sofi Hussain.
11th June 2007

First published in September 2007 in Dumex’s HOUSECALL