Professor
Negusse Ayele has written a wonderful article on Ethiopia�s
greatest dramatist, poet, social gadfly (and much more) Tsegaye
Gabre-Medhin, which I recommend to all to read. [See https://www.ethiopians.com/tsegaye/
My tribute to Poet Laureate Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin by contrast
could only be an antithesis to such masterly writing by Professor
Negusse and others. Nevertheless, one more voice of admiration and
tribute to a great Ethiopian will not hurt anyone. In this brief in
memoriam, I am recalling one simple meeting and some phone
conversations I have had with the great poet.
The
last thing I remember of Poet Laureate Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin was a
phone conversation we had a few years back. In our conversation he
tried to advise me, as an older brother is supposed to do, that I
mend my ways of confrontation and irreverence that had rattled a few
of the people we both knew. For some unknown reason, I always had
felt that Poet Laureate Tsegaye was much older than he actually was,
after all he is only a little over a decade older than I am. My
perception of his age probably has to do with my view of his person
than his physical being. I saw him as a sage not just as a great
scholar and poet that he truly was.
A
good friend of mine, Atlabachew Aklilu, who has great and profound
admiration of Poet Laureate Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin, invited me to come
along for he had arranged to meet with his idol Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin,
on one bright early Summer morning of a decade or so ago. After we
met with the great poet, we decided to drive down by the Potomac
River. We parked our car on the Virginia side of the river bank, and
took a leisurely memorable walk around the park with the great River
as our background. It was early summer and not yet the time of the
all-engulfing, discomforting, and stifling heat and humidity of
Metropolitan Washington, but the weather was warm enough for shirts
and light jackets. [Atlabachew took a number of pictures of that
memorable meeting. I
will post some of those pictures when I get hold of them.]
I
remember the meeting as vividly as if it happened just yesterday.
For the first time, I saw the great poet Tsegaye as a physically
fragile human being, wearing an overcoat at such warm summer day. I
was concerned, and I enquired after Tsegaye�s health. It was then
that I learned about the great poet�s kidney problem, which
ailment finally ended his most productive life.
This
image of a frail person, but of gigantic mind with phenomenally
enormous abilities as poet, dramatist, and a social gadfly with
elegance and forceful evocative personality remained with me to this
day. That was not our first meeting, though; I had met the great
poet in Ethiopia several times before under different circumstances.
The great poet not only wrote wonderful plays, but along the way
ennobled and enriched the Amharic language itself. I call him,
without much exaggeration, as the greatest word-smith Ethiopia ever
had, a person who created invocative expressions and even a new
lexicon to describe the process of change taking place in Ethiopia
for decades�he was some kind of an alchemist of revolutionary
idioms. My last meeting in person with the great poet was a special
moment in my life that I cherish the memory and relive it every
opportunity I get.
Let
me go over some of the moments and events that I recall from that
brief encounter with the great poet by the banks of the Potomac
River. At that memorable meeting with the great poet, something
wonderful happened to me as well. For the first time I learned a
great lesson in life�how to admire another human being. I
witnessed in my friend Atlabachew what it means to admire someone.
Atlabachew adored, I could even say �worshiped,� Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin.
Just watching them interact was most touching, and a great lesson to
me about the true meaning of unadulterated respect, humility, and
generosity. I saw my friend Atlabachew transformed and elevated
almost floating in the presence of his idol transcending
limitations. [Atalabachew in his own right is a poet of great talent
although not as yet public.] The voice of profound and sincere
admiration seems to have a physical dimension not just spoken words
but something that seems to ooze out throughout the body. I being on
the periphery, and a witness to a truly genuine interaction between
�a teacher� and his adoring student, had a better vintage point
to assess the situation better than anybody. [I think I am the one
who gained the most that day.]
A
number of people point out the fact that the great poet was a very
difficult person to work with. But that is a mark of a person who
wants to elevate us all to a higher standard or stage of existence.
It cannot be perceived as a handicap or flaw of character. As far as
I can tell, Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin excelled in all of his undertakings
through out his life. The numbers of plays, poems, essays/interviews
et cetera are all clear testaments of the work ethics, perseverance,
dedication, and love of wisdom of Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin. His opus is
prodigious by any standard of measurement.
One
play that was memorable to me was �Ha, Hu Besdist Wer� that was
magical, and an incisive social criticism of the Regime of Emperor
Haile Selassie, just overthrown. A number of my friends were highly
critical of the play because they were just looking at the surface
of a profound production. They often pointed out the fact that
Tsegaye was criticizing the very person who awarded him the most
prestigious Haile Selassie I Prize for literature. I argued
endlessly that art is a reflection of the human condition, and
Tsegayes� play �Ha Hu�� is a perfect expression of that
truism. Nevertheless, that did not diminish my profound admiration
for Tsegayes� great
abilities as both dramatist and poet.
I
consider the great poet to be a man of the people because most of
his plays and his poems have qualities that may be considered down
to earth and primordial. This is not meant to imply crudeness or
simplistic, for Tsegaye in his work was extremely sophisticated and
post-modernist. I am sure that a number of people would disagree
with me on this last point also, for Tsegaye is often identified
with romanticism because of the fact that he often addressed issues
dealing with courage, nationalism, freedom et cetera.
There are dimensions to the great
poet Tsegaye that people often overlook. I happen to know that the
great poet was a man of peace and social harmony. It is often
overlooked by my contemporaries the fact that he was a great
peacemaker, who had tried to mediate between warring factions or
people in our current political and social discord. In some of his
most critical poems of the present Ethiopian government and
political situation, he was never hateful or mean but inspiring. He
set a vision of a great Ethiopia in front of us that we may never
lose sight of our great heritage. If a man can be immortalized,
Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin is already immortal through his many plays and
poems. Requiem Eternum.
Poet
Laureate Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin died in New York City on February 25,
2006, and was buried with great ceremony on March 6, 2006 at the
Holy Trinity Cathedral, Addis Ababa. He is survived by his wife,
Woizero Lakech Bitew, and his daughters, Yodit, Mahlet, and Adey;
his sons Ayenew, Estifanos and Hailu, and his grandchildren, Nardos,
Menelik, Isaac, Nathan and Yared. Our heart felt condolence to the
family of Ethiopia�s greatest poet, dramatist, social commentator,
and philosopher Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin.
Tecola
W. Hagos
Washington
DC
March
10, 2006
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