I am a simple man
I am just a neighbourhood ice-cream seller
I go about with my little motorcycle of goodies
Play my jingle and the kids they come
I am a simple man
I hear whispers of the “numbers” rising
Rumours of hospital beds being full
Still I go on humming
After all, I am the neighbourhood joy keeper
And onwards I must go
Then last week I saw on the television screen
The president announcing a famine by decree
“This nationwide famine will last for four months
Anyone found guilty of eating will be shot.”
I am a simple man
Not learned, not wise
So I could not understand
Bakeries brimming with bread shut down
Shops bursting with goods barred with iron locks
Parks overflowing with flowers sealed off
And streets bustling with people emptied out
I am a simple man
I am just a neighbourhood ice-cream seller
I go about with my little motorcycle of goodies
Play my jingle
But
The kids they never came
The streets were dead silent
The joy replaced with dread
I am a simple man
Stripped of my income
Emptied of my dignity
Four more months of this
I started to weep
And astonished, I suddenly began to disappear
Cease to exist
First my little motorcycle of goodies
Then my legs and my arms
And then I was gone
Vanished into thin air
With only a whiff of savoury sweetness remaining
The silent streets empty of one more ice-cream seller
No one to notice
No one to mourn
