Life past the glimpse of hope

By Atok Dan Baguoot

For the first time in a score of years,
when the sun, the moon, and the galaxies of stars
turned away from the orbit.
It was a day doomed to end life, soul, and oxygen
Life past the glimpse of hope,

For the first time in a score of reasoning,
smile, frown, and laughter of happiness
turned into a mere cry of babies
life and soul mesmerized by the events of the day
a day doomed to an end of breathing oxygen
it was when the abdomen of pregnant mothers aches
but no neighborhood helps
It was when no glimpse of hope seems to guide tomorrow

For the first time in a score of years,
a bride and groom tend apart in anguish.
It was a day when twelve hours of the night add up in imagination
It was a night when couples drop the duty of caressing touches
The bitterness of no glimpse of hope
Life and hope were yoked under the merciless burden of time
Life past the glimpse of no hope

For the first time ever,
fathers and mothers began abandoning their loved angels
in the quest for new hope.
Life was doomed to an end
Ordinary oxygen tends into hot carbon dioxide,
seas of waters melted into a swarm of fires,
mirages of savannah lands eroded into ashes,
and the soft germinating buds protruded into thorns
It was a day of curses and regrets, an unforgettable day
Life was with no glimpse of hope

For the first time the traditional astronomers
failed to name seasons,
to differentiate between January and December,
June and July.
It was a season of no harvest, no planting.
Men and women of high integrity bent their traditional norms
in survival.
They tried unexpected; they steal from others’ farms
Life was doomed to an awkward ending,
mothers cry the cries of babies
and babies sing their own lullabies like wallabies
It was life short of hope, no glimpse of hope

For the first time in life,
peaceful tribes locked horns in bitterness,
for the first time sound of the horn of dangers locked doors of peace.
It was a time of no mercy but mercilessness reigns the region
It was a region in ruinous shape.
Silence reigns the confusion
It was time for an end to hope, not even a glimpse of hope

A little journey of learning

By Atok Dan Baguoot

Mine is as little as any other little journey,
A soul-searching journey,
Started on the foot of a tall house of pride
As a lonely little boy herding cattle in the swarm of Upper Nile,
Squarely faced by realities of the long struggle,
Disciplined by a bitter sense of death

The core concept of every struggle,
seen and tasting the nastiness of war
What did I learn in that little costly journey?
It is none other than bitterness,

A remorsefulness of losing loved ones,
moving barefooted on thorny and rocky grounds,
walking distances taller than my childhood ambition
nodding and napping while trekking
trans-nights like nocturnal

It is a life rashly spent aching,
a life spent etching with lice and lies,
echoing on the egos of gilts-edge,
full with boyish recklessness

Doomed to death,
but on the mercy of nature,
we emerged alive and well

Passports and marketable education are immediate needs of the republic of South Sudan

By Atok Dan Baguoot 

 Juba, 22nd October: 

 A normal human psychic is telling anyone in South Sudan that something is terribly going on wrong especially in dealing with national issues of great concern, namely the issue of Passport and secondary school examinations. After the Speaker of the National Legislative Assembly Rt. Hon James Wani Igga declared the positions of Parliamentary Specialized Committee vacant on technical grounds, another MP also raised an issue of concern in relation to the use of Arabic language besides the English language in the August House. The said MP urged the House to provide a table-translated Arabic version of every agenda discussed for those MPs who don’t read or write English. 

 Hon John Luk Jok, the Minister of Justice became hot on the matter telling the house that any translation made in any other language apart from English which is the constitutional official language would contravene the wording of the Transitional constitution of the republic. He mentioned that Arabic is an unrecognized language in this nation; therefore any translation made in Arabic would amount to a violation of the constitution. The minister was actually telling anyone who has not touched Constitution that there are constitutional clauses that should not be tampered with whether it means the sunset in the midday. 

Minister Jok was in the spirit of respect for the supreme law of a sovereign land which is the Constitution, our pride as a nation. On the contrary, the Minister of Education, Hon Joseph Ukel was recently quoted by media saying that South Sudanese students with Arabic background education are allowed to still be sitting for Sudan secondary examinations in the North for a period of three years, meaning continuing with Arabic as a medium of communication of course. 

Meanwhile, the government of South Sudan is spending a hell of money on capacity building for government employees who don’t read and write in English. In these two statements, the application of logic and commonsense have all gone defeated not rightly but due to a lack of coordinated efforts from senior government of officials. Sometimes it can be referred to as ignorant of the application of law I doubt if there are parents ready to sacrifice the future of their children on the expenses of maintaining a cordial relationship with the republic of Sudan in the shallow pretext of continuing sitting for examinations whose papers will not earn them living at the end of the end. The reality on the market in South Sudan today is that holders of English certificates are on the safer side, and what if you give it another two more years? 

 To me, continuing with the examinations from the republic of Sudan is just going to be deliberately spoiled chances because the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan is very clear in white and black. Who is that to violate it in favor of unrecognized language?

 If at all there is a language to recommend your child to sit, for now, it should be constitutional recognized South Sudanese national languages. We are done with Arabic business after all use of two official languages promotes inefficiency in public offices and it is documented in the last six years of the CPA. Second, to that, the public has been promised a new passport as soon as the flag of the new republic is hoisted up on the 9th of July, and as if we had known the goal post was shifted to September and again to October. 

The communication from the new occupants of the office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs now is that December is the deadline for receipt of the document. A great amount of time consumed preaching an equivalent of lies would literally be translated into a lack of initiative especially when the public comes to digest the presidential 100 days timeframe. 

 Indeed lack of passport and Sudan examinations could be seen as of less interest to policymakers because they are busy moving up and down running their side businesses, while their kids are attending prestigious schools that would enable them to compete for all kinds of jobs. 

 Conclusively, the lack of passports and continuation of Sudan’s examinations are altogether executive dumping strategies meant to keep the majority of citizens away from the realities of the competitive dynamic world of today. A passport is a constitutional right even if it means curving wood, melting metal, or solidifying water into papers passport, we need it with marketable quality education. The writer is a journalist working in South Sudan, and he can be reached

Faded love

By Atok D Baguoot

It is it that people go for, 

they need it most 

It is lavish love, 

expensive and painful when not cared for 

It binds the loose bonds of nature 

We all say in unison, 

I love you but do we really mean it 

Its two facets are either commercialized or idealized 

Bond by forces of nature, straights go for the opposite sex 

Bisexuals go for both, 

they roam well in between the two sexes 

They still called it love 

Even lesbians and gays trim their hips with caressing hands in bed at night 

They also termed it, lavish love 

Straights called it outcast by nature 

Both the pedigree and offspring live lovely in love 

They called it parental love endowed by nature the giver of love, 

and the creator of jealousy and hatred

It is it that we go searching to perfect our union as wife and husband 

when impaired, it goes off through windows 

When cheated, 

It falters and fades away naturally,

Where it goes is where it rejuvenates itself by nature, 

It is a Greek myth called the phoenix

It rejuvenates itself at someone else door 

it is a chance knock but not received

It is it that when not taken care of delivers unfaithfulness,

the grandchild of adultery 

the fruit of family discords 

some called it divorce, parties are issued a certificate of divorce

This is when love is not well taken care of by the former lovers 

We both need it to flourish healthily in the world of suspicions 

Lust for sex but learn to love lovely 

For your offspring will pick it from you 

I will pick not the way you said it but like your dos 

Yes mum, onto the hills of colgotta of Dinka culture

By Atok D Baguoot 

Yes, mum, 

I"m ever with you 

With tears rolling down your cheeks, like the waters of equatorial torrential rains 

I"m there to face the last ferocious battle together with you 

Yes, mum, 

I'm ever with you

How much worst the swords of torture could be

I'm ever together with you in pains and agonies 

know that somebody somewhere felt touched by your sufferings 

Yes, queen of the universe, 

I'm ever with you deep down the corridors of dark and hatred 

I'm ever there to witness the scares of tortures that tear your smooth melanin apart

Your smooth beautiful African skin

To smoothen your skin with my oily tears

Love last is yours

Yes, mum, 

My love and caressing touches would one time mend your broken skins

It would sweep clean all the salty tears that had trickled down your shiny cheeks,

the veins and arteries of your heart are overworked will one time relax in true affection 

Yes queen of the holy palace

for if you persistently tolerate the burden inflicted upon you

by the bondage of culture

your happiness shall one time supersede other forms of human happiness

your reward shall be a complete love and affection full of remorseful memories

Yes, mum, 

I know the weighty of an unreligious cross that has tormented your hope

 Yes, mum, onto the hills of colgotta of Dinka culture, 

you are still who you are,

with their minds and hearts kneeled on the wealth of the planet,

you will still surface resiliently, 

you never succumbed to their mediocre 

your true long-lasting love never waned 

Yes, mum, 

for you never faltered your word of love towards me 

Am ready to face the negative fatal attitudes of the culture 

You and I are there to alter and witness the true joy of love 

The fruits of patience and tolerance 

We will rejoice once again in oneness 

Yes, mum, 

could you remember the fallacy of now 

With its freak pains that almost swallow the zeal of truth 

Yes, mum, 

your last say would be the ultimate judgment 

You are not Jesus but Jesus in this judgment 

Slay the dragon of injustice and impunity

By Atok Dan Baguoot 

Slay a monster of injustice 

slay it with its putrid and malodorous roots

Put it to rest 

Let it be in the dustbin of history 

Put a killer to its knee, 

For it will remind us of the bitter past 

Slay the dragon of impunity and social vices, 

for it cuts artery of national union, 

of cohesion and patriotism 

Slay it to a perfect death, 

Cut its heads with a neck,

for it will germinate 

Slay the vice that turns public entities into the tribal shrine, 

It generates hatred that pilfers public coffers 

Slay it that our national values shall be restored 

Slay it so that loosen national bonds shall be restored

Slay it so that our footprints shall be traceable 

to a generation and posterity 

Slay the culture of impunity and corruption, 

For they brought us unforgettable memories, 

For they brought chronics wars that decayed the national bonds, 

South and north, east and west 

Slay the dragon to death  

In the Jungle of despair

By Atok Dan Baguoot 

Rains, sun heat and hunger, 

all wrinkle my face 

Freckle my shiny dark smooth melanin contours 

The gentleness of the African Queen 

The land of all odds 

That lessens protruded pot bellies

The dangerous human tribe 

 Classes of social and economic inequality   

The black jacket tribe 

That wears a thread-like piece of cloth 

For the show disguised dishonesty 

For theft and nepotism

All darken their concept of lust for stolen wealth

A well-framed ideology

A generation of distress and despair 

Sunken us into a jungle of despair 

The jungle of wars, weariness, and doubts 

Deep down in the jungle of corruption, 

where we see no more stars 

But stare in desperation and hollowness  

A jungle that abhors reasonableness

But a jungle of lawlessness

Where anarchy, chaos, and injustice flourishes  

In this jungle of hopelessness, 

Seated on benches tribal lords

To rob, a nation of its treasure and character

 Of her nationalism and oneness in noble duty 

 To live a destitute live, hatred, jealousy,  and lust for ill-gotten riches