Department of English
Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
Once Upon a Time
(1963)
Gabriel Okara
(1921– )
Once upon a time, son, |
|
they used to laugh with their hearts | |
and laugh with their eyes: | |
but now they only laugh with their teeth, | |
while their ice-block-cold eyes | 5 |
search behind my shadow. | |
There was a time indeed | |
they used to shake hands with their hearts: | |
but that’s gone, son. | |
Now they shake hands without hearts: | 10 |
while their left hands search | |
my empty pockets. | |
‘Feel at home’! ‘Come again’: | |
they say, and when I come | |
again and feel | 15 |
at home, once, twice, | |
there will be no thrice – | |
for then I find doors shut on me. | |
So I have learned many things, son. | |
I have learned to wear many faces | 20 |
like dresses – homeface, | |
officeface, streetface, hostface, | |
cocktailface, with all their conforming smiles | |
like a fixed portrait smile. | |
And I have learned too | 25 |
to laugh with only my teeth | |
and shake hands without my heart. | |
I have also learned to say, ‘Goodbye’, | |
when I mean ‘Good-riddance’; | |
to say ‘Glad to meet you’, | 30 |
without being glad; and to say ‘It’s been | |
nice talking to you’, after being bored. | |
But believe me, son. | |
I want to be what I used to be | |
when I was like you. I want | 35 |
to unlearn all these muting things. | |
Most of all, I want to relearn | |
how to laugh, for my laugh in the mirror | |
shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare fangs! | |
So show me, son, | 40 |
how to laugh; show me how | |
I used to laugh and smile | |
once upon a time when I was like you. |
"Once Upon a Time" Notes
Once Upon a Time: meanings 1) a long time ago, 2) never happened, a fairy tale; never upon a time; never real
Links |
|
Gabriel Okara |
|
Reference
Home | Literary Terms | Learning English
Last updated July 20, 2009