the tears of olives …
trickling down shrapnelled flesh
tears fall
like
blood
on
bloodied
cheek
while in the sun
lifeless bodies
lie cold as stone
still
the tears of olives
flow
salty sentinels
of memory:
pain
suffering
occupation
hunger
the tears of olives
perennially streak
etching pathways of dust
between alleyways of desolation
hopelessly bleak
yet still
the slaughter continues
as more dead bodies
rot
reek
uBuntu = humanity
all roots
alive
weaving intricate veins
over our shared
common plains
feeding tributaries
slipping over streams
all so
one sea
one world
one earth
us all
may be fed
like our shared blood
for
the river feeding us
all of us
the river ebbing and flowing through our veins
etching tributaries within all of us
is of one colour
it is
all of it …
red.
____________________
uBuntu is an isiXhosa/isiZulu concept that espouses “the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity”
an immigrants lament
gazing at the sky
i often wonder why,
birds soaring,
high in the open sky,
are free to fly?
is it that they have wings,
for i too have wings, friend,
so,
i often wonder why,
huddled against desolate sleet,
and,
i often wonder why,
buried under flimsy newspapersheet,
that i too have wings, friend,
i too have wings!
and my wings,
are my feet!
Scribbled Verse 