scabbards

scabbards.

1.

aren’t we all,
at the heart of it all,

just scabbards.

mere,
just,

vessels,
into which,

we pour
our hope, love, fear,
desire, prejudice, anger,

scabbards all,
right at the heart of it all,

filled to the hilt,

brimming with jingoistic murderousness,

bloated on bigoted hair-trigger rage,

primed,
ready to slay,

in the name of something someone,

some entity deity belief oldage, newagey, or thought-up yesterday,

sounding needlingly familiar,

a few words,
names,
hearsay,

primed,
coded,

prepped to slay,
itching to strike,

that
first blow,

shock & awe!

drawing first blood,

drop by drop,
bleeding out,

blood spilled,
again, and again.

2.

the colour of the bloody rivers in flood:

red.

red to the hilt,
brimming the scabbards,

scabbards,

mere,

and finally,
just maybe,

perhaps,

just.

double-helixed uBuntu

double-helixed uBuntu …

these interwoven veins

dna
double-helixed

microscopically
binding

me
you

us
all

through
this common
shared
truth:

‘I am because you are’*

all of us
together
as one

me
you …

… uBuntu*

 

* – uBuntu is an isiXhosa/isiZulu concept that espouses the “belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity”

uBuntu = humanity

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”

What is uBuntu?

uBuntu …

every seashell

ever silenced
emptied

lost to the tide

shares the desolation

of
each leaf
of
every tree

that ever fell …

_____________________

uBuntu is an isiXhosa/isiZulu concept that espouses “the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity”

a time with less sorrows …

a poem …

my weakened eyes crave the sight of you,

a fleeting glimpse perhaps,

while all the while,

my hungering mouth,

yearns for a,

taste.

these dreams come and go,

as times waltzes through,

uncertain tomorrows …

so I live with a deeply burning hope,

a hope for a time,

with less,

sorrows.

scribblin’ self-deprecatin’ scribbles

the sapling that took root,

enmeshed in the sweat-soaked gulag of kisses & pain,

silence & self-pity,

will grow to be a tree,

rising above the prejudices of men,

higher & higher,

to that point when looking down,

humans all look the same.

and so …

I stretch out my arm,

my thumb defiant in the oppressive air,

& as I bid you an almondsweet adieu,

I hold you close,
whispering these words:

so long, my friend,
& stay well,

& know that I shall be counting down the days to how & to when,

I will see you here …

peace | love | uBuntu