Poem: ‘Accused of a Sodomy Act’ by Tom Rogers Muyunga-Mukasa

Summary

At first it was whispered,

it became the rumour,

the teller added spices,

the listener inundated by stories.

Some listeners were taken aback,

shocked;

others went about doing their business,

less bothered.

The tale of the man at the corner.

It was where we had our water point,

the village water point;

the ‘water-man’ as we called him,

the man at the corner,

the man who oversees the point,

this man,

it was said,

sleeps with fellow men,

never with women.

In my village the older elders,

the frailest and gauntest of them all,

said this was common in their time,

it was never frowned upon,

it was never spoken about aloud.

They said it all changed later,

the ones who brought a certain Book,

also introduced laws

through which

this act was frowned upon.

The latter elders

now lead the teams

to frown upon the act.

Jesus, it was said,

was on his way to our part,

most likely

on the market day;

on that day

they were to report

the water-man.

Quietly the accusers laid traps,

but the water-man

escaped the traps;

at one time they lined up a girl

to the water-man,

the girl was sent,

to have him seduced,

she failed in all attempts;

next

they sent younger boys,

two,

three,

four young boys,

one after the other,

all failed to lure him.

Then some in our village

failed to pay their water bills;

the water-man

put down

every one of them

in a book of debts;

he sent the book

to the debt-collector;

they promised to pay,

they gave excuses,

they also

looked for ways

to bring a case

against the water-man,

any case,

a case that would stick,

so that

they could banish the water-man.

They connived

to have the water-man replaced.

I saw and heard all this

from my closeted corner;

I wondered

how my case would be,

when Jesus

were to come to our village.

This is how

my case would unfold:

I am similar

to the water-man

in almost all ways.

My family

took me

through a circle of shame.

It was during a funeral

of one of our clan members.

Funerals

are also communal rites of passage;

at a time like this

families resolve issues:

they disown

wayward daughters and sons;

they reconcile

over past misunderstandings;

newer plans are made,

name-giving is done,

wrongs are righted;