Deliver us from cheap talk
and talk that cheapens

Deliver us too
from non-delivery
and the usual talk
about delivery

whatever comes first
in your policy manifesto
and your long-winded
long-winding manifestoing
(what dog wags what tail)

remember Amilcar Cabral
who cautioned against
too much theory
and too little practice
too much practice too
and too little theory too

I do remember (anyway)
a now late comrade-thinker
chiding local black-beards
no theory on its own
no action on its own

Deliver us from cheap talk
and talk that cheapens

before you get yourself
duly delivered and set free
from all your promises
whatever lucrative platforms
you criss-cross and double-cross

before you are expropriated
without any compensation