Knox Mahlaba - Back from the Dead: The Rising of an African Spirit

Back from the DEAD The Rising of an African Spirit KNOX MAHLABA Order this book online at www.trafford.com
or email Most Trafford titles are also available at major online book retailers. Copyright 2014 Knox Mahlaba. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author. ISBN: 978-1-4907-3199-5 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4907-3201-5 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-4907-3200-8 (e) Library of Congress Control Number: 2014905692 Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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fax: 812 355 4082 Contents Confounding the bearer of news A messenger without an audience Like a stream without a delta Flowing into a tributary Paying tribute to unknown influences Studying identified sources An eye witness to an eye sore A people torn apart by imaginary differences Opting to remain silent Wiping the tears from my eyes Drying the despair of a people A curse of ages A curse placed on a chosen few The audience ungrateful Floating like a bottled letter The message lost at sea Though the coast is rough Waiting for the sea to purge itself of foreign debris Cast the bottle against monstrous rock faces Shatter the glass ceiling Toss the message onto the shore Children dying of hunger Toy soldiers lying on battle fields The fields mined with explosives Mines secured by foreign forces Our gold lying in Fort Knox The miners dying Everybody looking away Our standing on a downward spiral Our continent raped whilst we watch Whilst we pretend not to see, hear no evil! Though eyes cannot talk They say so much Expensive like a private education Home schooling away from home A classroom of bandits Everybody searching for gold Panning for substance Embroiled in substance abuse The trip very short The journey too long Every kilometre away Every hour a lesson Learning to be loyal to me Sharing a desk Accommodating others Ignoring personal circumstances Loyal to the common purpose Purposefully using each other for personal gain Portraying loyalty Duty bound by a pact Between us Me, myself and I Between heart and mind Body and soul heavenly property Being there for someone else Me someone else Held together at the seams by a notion Pretence will do State property, save for loyalty A sense of belonging so crucial More important than the air we breathe Held together by belonging My loyalties lying somewhere else Belonging anywhere but here Falling on my sword My property Embracing reality So pragmatic So hectic Like falling on a sword Failing to believe Losing belief Even faith in your only truly possession My property a liability Eating away at my assets Like a pandemic An academic subject Looking back unpredictable Research a different perspective Everything laid bare Exposed so thoroughly Beached like a whale Stab wound after stab wound Dressed in a thick skin Bearing old scars My property Natures indulgence Falling on a sword So foreign Assegais stab the enemy Swords kill important ways Standing away from a fight foreign So crucial Principles are like swords Trying to hold onto my assegai A snow-capped mountain on the Equator Standing apart, standing alone Africas greatest mountain Created by quiet rumblings from beneath The Rift Valley scarring the surface Shaping the landscape The fractures below invisible The divisions above clear A people divided Apportioned by foreign forces The people apportioning blame Having a mountain to climb Very few reach the apex A few die trying Having a purpose Arriving at the summit Africas greatest mountain to climb Standing next to each other too often Never standing together Pockets of myopia found all over the place None standing apart Stand on principle together Deep markings of dissatisfaction painted with blood The way down pulling us down Too many standing below the summit Too afraid to meet a challenge Climb Kilimanjaro Its our mountain after all Continental plates cracking below Splitting apart above Resembling a shattered windscreen The pieces mighty together Futile apart The climb treacherous Having my own mountain to climb Gathering my thoughts Becoming together Collecting myself Connecting myself The people remember The apex beside the point Doing it together the point Pulling each other upwards Collect ourselves Gather ourselves Remember who we are Kilimanjaro standing witness A mountain of greatness Giving life a purpose Remember Africa! When a bottled letter washes onto your shore Your eyes light up Curiosity invites you to remove the cork Anticipating the contents Wondering about the recipient Empathising with the author A sailor in distress Sending out an SOS for his soul Reading a message not intended for you Like perusing a diary of the dearly departed A reading of a last will and testament Though shameful and intrusive Its only natural Envy compels you to break protocol Yet youll never open a sealed envelope Will I ever receive such a letter An affirmation of compassion A cry for me I too would love to drink from this well Though we conquer the oceans seeking treasure None can compare to love Watching the waves come and go Watching sailors embrace their loved ones for one last time Waiting for my bottled letter Dying to quench my thirst Drink from Cupids spring Theres nothing better than love A duet from beyond the grave Luther and Gregory were so right Kings have abdicated thrones for a sip of love Some have gone to war To secure their hearts desire I too would throw away a crown An empire for that matter A foolish thought I know Yet theres nothing better than love Nothing you say, can sway me Yearning for the other half of my heart The last piece of a puzzle A life lived without an attempt to fill your hearts content No matter how futile the attempt Is a wasted life Double or nothing I say JFKs eternal flame still burns In Jackies heart! Ive been called by many a name Childhood nicknames Family pet names Apparently what I call myself immaterial Others choosing to christen me as they choose Forced to carry a foreign name A name alien to my culture Bear the load of an unwanted name Given many such names Some do not appear in any documentation Aliases used behind my back Boy, Nigger, Thug Inspired by The Champ Like Kunta Kente Forsaking his slave name Opting for a chosen identity Embracing his heritage Ali the Great King of the Rumble in the Jungle Chanting Ali, Ali, Ali Turning my back on Confirmation My apologies to The Pope The Vatican can do without another convert I dont want another unwanted name Aiding and abetting Kwame Ture Killing Stokely Carmichael Lynching Cassius Clay Burying Dona Richards Forsaking all my unwanted names Deemed a kaffir, aka kafir Forgive me For raising such a thorny subject Its been piercing my heart for years My people insulted, denigrated Being black n beautiful Their only crime Subtle connotations Houseboy, Sambo, natives, Harsh expletives, obscenities, cuss words Negro, kaffer Unknowingly anointing me Biko said I was Black Sobukwe called me an African Mbeki broke it down for me Rasta calls me King Inspired by others too John Carlos, Tommie Smith In the summer of 68 Taking gold and silver Making an important statement Reminding us Individual glory doesnt supersede the struggle Surprised by others like me How they embrace their unwanted names Embracing my unwanted name For I do not believe in foreign notions God was always here Theres no need to mail order His presence No longer disputing their claim For I am an unbeliever in their eyes In their version of history In their concoction of religion Witnessing the birth of Africa within me Listening to the marimba drums beating from within I am a descendent of Khafre Son of Khufu The fourth King of the Fourth Dynasty The Great King of Egypt Commissioner of Pyramids Yet all they see is just another kaffir They say the pyramids were built by aliens Yet all the statues look like Michael Jackson Their noses falling off Broken off To conceal evidence of their blackness Their likeness to me Renaming myself Retaining my naming rights Reclaiming my identity Embracing who I am Who I choose to be Decorating their paper gold with images from Kemet Destroying libraries of African documentation Under the guise of an Arab Spring Maybe I am an alien Cos I resemble the people who built the pyramids I do not entertain what they say about us Let alone what they will say about me My lineage is Khoi and San Dashed with Bantu soul I am an African A son of the soil Creator of my dynasty Architect of my legacy I am a Khafre! Erupting with feeling Feelings from where Yesterdays mudslide An avalanche so overwhelming The lava flowing Burning a soul Fortifying the core The earth a womb From where that is the problem Earthly feelings basking Calming torrents Waves of confusion Born with a birthmark A heavenly choice Choosing a certain way Chosen by whom So much like the earth A dark shade of earth Watching my own birth Falling down a black hole The surroundings a reflection Making my mark Brick by brick Marking a making Doing what the earth wants Under duress! Listening to the force of nature When the time comes Events fall into place Scenes colouring an image Dreams just yesterday And the day before The world choosing to meet you halfway Cos no matter how vivid Images out do dreams Different from reality too When the time arrives Images match reality Every moment seamless Feeling bigger than I am Larger than star A damn constellation When the time arrives Dreams come true Flowers blossom in winter Robins sing soprano The rain drizzles softly Whilst the sun bares all Leaving me to bask in the spotlight Polishing my shade of black Hogging the spotlight When the time arrives Faith stays Doubt departs Staying true to myself (A tribute to Nelson Mandela) Escaping tradition Running away from responsibility Only to be caught By a greater responsibility Chiselled by a quarry Bathed in salty water Seasoned by kelp Banished to an island Never forgetting No man is an island Even royalty Heeding a calling Caught forever The trap Sisulus making Tightened by Tambo The nation falling onto the safety net Thank you Tata For clenching your fist Hoisting it in defiance Shouting at the top of your voice Amandla! Thank you Madiba For taking your gloves off Raising your hand Volunteer #1 And taking up arms Against domination in whatever form Fighting for freedom of the individual Defeating fear Reconciling opposing poles Only a boxer Could outflank the status quo Sip tea with a pariah Lift the Webb Ellis trophy Scoring a goal for the people of the south Youre a striker Umkhonto We Sizwe Dankie san! Siyabonga! Am tired of playing No more games for me Tired of cheap thrills One night stands Stolen kisses Unscheduled meetings in the boardroom I am discarding old flames Starting anew Am naughty by nature Yet I am tired of getting up to no good With everybody but you No more OPP for me You my dear are my canvas I want to paint a picture of love Take off your garments and pose for me Stuff the neighbours The nay Sayers We gonna rumble Do all the wrong things for the right reasons together Quickies in the back stairway Smuggle you into the john at the club Drive you up the wall in an alley Get to know your geography from north to south Get lost in your Bermuda Triangle Lose my tongue in your bush Plant you behind the trees in the park And watch blossom into the woman I have always desired No more cheap thrills for me I want cosy up to you by the fireplace Watch my black book go up in flames I want my own pie Home baked! Put my finger in it Taste your homemaking skills Make love to you in the hallway By the entrance hall, in the pantry Its our house by the way Stuff the kids How the hell did they get here? Watch you walk in the mall Fully aware you got nothing on underneath Yearning to get home Dying to get some Ditch the kids Turn on the charm like I just met you Turn off the lights Cook a candle lit dinner Candles in the bathroom Shower you with love Disrobe you Put on some old school Let Teddy Pendergrass do what he does best Play games with you Rekindle our flame Do my matrimonial duties with a smile Watch you play with your toy Keep me interested honey Ill keep my wedding vows Like I promised Still photographs of rural settings Black and white in British camps on foreign soil Housing our own on Robben Island Isolated from the mainland Living without heritage Staying in squatter camps Informal settlements meant to dehumanise the population No different from matchboxes Worse in every respect Free houses on the market Inhabitants cheated of ownership Citizens of no mans land Living without heritage The past reincarnating in the present Correctional facilities packed Too many people living behind barricades of security gates The majority far from secure Society devoid of leadership Cos homes are manned Built with a cultural reference point A piece of the past Staying true to chosen virtues People defining tendencies Shaping a way of life Too many houses Too few homes Villages of family Displaced by bachelor flats Harems of pleasure Disturbing images of urban settings Capitalist concentration camps Destroying a way of life Local content homeless Straying from a path Sense of direction lost Needing a piece of the past A revolution Homes with parents People with a legacy A dying population Living without heritage Coconuts in free fall The birds and the bees in flight Butterflies adding colour To an already colourful backdrop The first fruits ripe Devouring turgid melons Enjoying a watermelon on the veranda Licking juices off lips Taste buds on a tropical retreat Surrounded by juicy fruit Full bodied grapes Perky pears Exotic dates Forbidden fruit Adams predicament not going away Lost in an orchard Struggling to enjoy in moderation Supermodel peaches Leaving the best for last Tasting natural born goodness Fruits draped in fertility Picking fruit with care Export quality only Making a fruit salad Contrasting tastes complementing each other Black berries divine The harvest coming Interrogating myself My people My gender Looking at me Mystified by our history Searching for a stolen legacy Embarrassed by males People like myself Failing to become men Lacking leadership The black family in disarray Family reunions a thing of the past The black man absent without leave Fighting other peoples wars Working far away from home Far from his frame of mind Locked up in Attica Absentminded in his home Detached from his soul His soul mate seeking solace from elsewhere My fault His queen a shadow of her beautiful self Blemishing the work of the Creator Mutilated like The Sphinx No longer the lioness we knew A castle without a king Defeats the purpose of the exercise Let alone a queen without her king A bold black warrior A father to her offspring A shoulder of strength Rockin my locks My crown Too timid to try tackle the trouble Too afraid to fight on my own My ancestors my strength My children my responsibility My heart my spear My history my shield My heritage my spirit My Africa my home My Diaspora my family My wife my sister My daughter my mother My Diaspora my people My brothers my sisters Africas Renaissance, her revival My purpose Blank like copy paper Cutting careless fingers Lying in the tray Awaiting an interaction with ink Instructions from management What lies ahead nobody knows Minutes of a meeting An envelope maybe The crush before the trash bin Dreaming about the comforts of a frame Guaranteed nothing Possibly the ink is finished Tired of being blank Having no clue whatsoever Perpetually lying in wait Any scribble will do Tired of the same Wanting definition Playroom paint brushes An inspired imagination Anything to bring colour Too bland at the moment The forest too far for a return to the wild The eventuality closer A final destination Printed with words A picture of something Anything but this Even the wings of an aeroplane will do Instructions from above A defining moment Burdened by responsibility The world on her shoulders Carrying the future in her belly Caring for the young Entertaining a fulfilling a career path A part-time professional A full-time care giver A tumultuous balancing act Like carrying pails of water Establishing a platform for courtship Quenching a thirst for love Blessed with buckets of magic More than a chick Ruling the roost Reigning supreme over hearts of men What would the world be without her World war after world war Women the bedrock of society The bride the star of the show The groom only an accessory Befitting of weddings Choreographing birth and death Without her a mans funeral is incomplete Life impossible Her presence priceless Bringing sanity to the institutionalised Her healing power felt in wards and hearts Fortifying her man with dignity Without her, man is nothing Each day in her company a spring day Women the bedrock of society Imagine the world without Palesa no-Mbali Too ugly to contemplate (*Palesa - SeSotho word for flower; Mbali - IsiZulu word for flower; both are names for girls) Coming back from the dead Rising from the ashes The Earth rumbling from within From within the hearts of a few good men Sons of mummies Soldiers of reason The truth awakening the dead A continent staking its claim Reclaiming its legacy Its history disputed By those with no history With no story of their own Filing a paternity suit Africa wants her sons and daughters back Fighting for custody of their minds Please appease Nas Free her sons from corporate prisons And send them back to Africa Where they can roam free Experience a homecoming Africa is born from within According to the Gospel of Marimba Ani The Diaspora extended family A nomadic family Africa awaits an embrace A family reunion A homecoming of mind sets Paging papyrus Reading the Book of The Dead Disciples born everyday Revealing a wealth of knowledge Exposing fairy tales Seeking conscious minds to spread the word Emcees to break it down Tell the people the truth Plant reeds of thought Toil the soil Freedom will flourish on fertile ground And overflow like the Nile Coming back from the dead Rising from the ashes The earth rumbling from within From within the hearts of a few good men Sons of mummies Soldiers of reason Veterans of a cultural war Retracing their steps Finding the truth Civilization upon civilization Circumstantial evidence The writing on the wall Evidence of a glorious past Instructions to a greater future Africa speaking up The truth is compelling Carving warriors out of cowards Deemed an impossibility by some Yet an African sits in the Oval Office A sign of things to come Standing atop Kilmanjaro Like Martin we may never see the Promised Land Like many before who planted seeds of freedom When the African Spring arrives The world will be a better place No more hungry mouths Every person having value Hurdling over graves Taking the baton From champions of our struggle Hounds or no hounds Well make a run for it Well reconstruct the Underground Railroad Cos nothing can stop a determined people Let alone a congregation of souls A united spirit Surviving the Middle Passage Preserving its life Paying dearly A whole-lot-of-cost The world a cryptic puzzle Societys underbelly filled with pacts of secrecy Trysts of passion between secret lovers Hidden intentions and traits Hidden files and folders Classified material seeping beyond bureaucratic bungles Truth leaks into a pool of gossip Rumours picked up randomly by ears and eyes A dubious methodology Arriving at the truth by accident Struggling to stay afloat in a dam of conspiracy theories The world providing clues Crafting situations that reveal your true self Pitting creation against evolution Forgetting that nature nurtures nurture The truth like water Filtering through cracks in a rock formations Gushing out into the open Destroying dynasties and commoners alike A choreographed outburst giving birth to scandal Yet nothing surprises in a universe of possibility Especially where intellect lies Circumstantial evidence an eye witness Identifying the killer by finding the motive Though colourless like water Truth is tainted by spiritual understanding Subjective in its purest form Data far from factual minus context At best an interpretation of perspective Finding truth a journey with no end A disappointing destination Arriving posthumously (A tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.) Decrying inequality Preferring a peaceful path Walking to Selma Marching to D.C. Writing a letter for the struggle for freedom Standing your ground Standing tall Remaining upright Taking the high ground Placing your family at a peril Preaching from the pulpit Speaking from the bottom of your heart Schooling the world in public speaking Delivering a powerful message I have a dream.. Giving us a chance Acknowledging freedom comes at a price Taking the bullet for us Everything going full circle The seasons too A cycle of natural causes Everybody experiencing each season At a different time In no particular order Depending on your concept of God Your global positioning The alignment of the stars The complexion of your character Your income bracket only a buffer Cos life has a sense of humour Frugal with joy Generous with uncertainty Yet when the celebrations arrive We tend to forget Everything goes full circle Experiencing fall in winter Celebrating the rainbow after the storm Your choices a figment of your imagination Ultimately! Your concept of God having the final say Forcing me to write against my will Compelling you to read Appreciating the storm that gave birth to the rainbow Looking at the silver lining beyond the clouds Embracing fate! A spectrum of colour In full bloom Perpetuating natures arrogance A picturesque setting Ruffled by a slight breeze Shades of beauty Chocolate, Caf Au Lait, Coffee Lying in the eye of the beholder All flowers are beautiful Black is beautiful Words spoken by Negroid lips The thoughts of a liberated mind Witnessed by the naked eye Epitomised by almost bare maidens Adorned with something softer than silk Nubian skin tones Tall miss things Figures of speech Carrying the necessary baggage Dark skinned honeys amazingly beautiful Beauty shaped by more than natures indulgence Its all in the attitude Mounds and mounds of it Bringing colour to an otherwise bland existence Heads crowned with the artistry of agile fingers Always shoulders above the rest Armed with a tantalising laugh The full stop an equally beautiful smile Accentuating the richness of full bodied lips A songstress in stride The choreography of her movement A melody to the eyes The proportions exact The possibilities amazingly possible Left only to appreciate the floral arrangement Wanting a bouquet Gazing at a picnic spot Surrounded by pastels and petals Evoking memories of spring A different kind of season Butterflies competing with flora A contestation for attention A spectrum of colour Basking in the laughter of summer The memory of a smile melting this winter Confronting natures contradiction Though all flowers are beautiful Only one can be magnificent at any given time This moment belongs to you Standing on the banks Watching memories of Blood River Visiting my Waterloo The water negotiating a difficult path Meandering the peaks and valleys of a past Naivety compromising a future Recalling each defeat Celebrating every victory The singing of uniformed school children in the streets Music to my ears Interrupted by gun shots Remembering every bullet I evaded Living the one that hit Comprehending the disappointment of bulls eye Ouch! Pleading with the heart Attempting to manage the haemorrhaging The thorns of childhood Colluding with voodoo needles Cursed by misjudgements Errors of empathy Good intentions misleading Evil intent a more reliable source Delivering what you deserve As opposed to the opposite Treated like a slave Remembering every drop of blood Each drop shed Yearning for air Wanting to breathe Freedom a costly preoccupation Using the past to shepherd the future I want to live there An island in a sea of logic Suspend myself between palm trees Where reason is unnecessary A serene environment Where the heart governs Everything simple Waves going about their business The sky as alluring as ever Where my soul can soar Like the migrating birds No grammar, no rules No flight plans So the heart can be as foolish as it wishes Right n wrong a figment of the imagination Where the subconscious resides An open plan with a view The air filled with chirps and tweets The space between reason and fear A figment of my imagination Where errors are encouraged Corrections frowned upon Suspended between fantasy and reality My field of dreams My station in life Where the spirit lies The subconscious a beautiful place Letting go So often spoken about So easily Letting go of whats gone So difficult Tearing a part of you away So easily Dumb stricken by a loss Everything gone Abstract and tangible Bits and pieces close to the heart A totem pole here and there A far memory of a moment Anticipating loss So difficult Spiritual terrain so open Ancestors in a trance Omnipotence serving humble pie Losing appetite for sweet and sour Spoken sentiment a separate entity So different from felt sentiment Open heart surgery Only without anaesthesia Yesterday gone Tomorrow boarding now So often off-schedule Here at this very moment The task at hand Letting go So liberating Tossing pebbles into the river Disturbing the peace of my surroundings Taking things easy Seduced by the anti-establishment lobby Resigning from the rat race The establishment has never done me any good Trotting from totem pole to the next Taking note of the sweet scents of the forest The smell of danger in a jungle Suffocating in the fumes of its urban counterpart Taking in all the shades of green and its neighbours Allowing life a voice Dancing to its melody Prancing into step Kicking stones out of my path Hoping to savour it all Aware that a saviour may be required Accommodating sorrow Celebrating life Satisfying my soul The path to an orgasm is the orgasm Aaaah! Love meaningless Only a wrapping for lust An ad in the singles pages The need for company a compromising condition A task embedded in the genes Lying to each other Writing poetry with the heart Flattering another soul Loins doing the thinking Acting out a fantasy Love a theatre of the soul All the genres included Drama, tragedy, musical Love a romantic comedy A sketch of a predicament Feeding the appetite of an insatiable audience Lying to ourselves Love a reconnaissance mission Fashioned by the destination Coming to a heavenly gasp The physics of attraction harbour no sentiment Wrapped with trappings Kisses and hugs Thoughts of forever A semblance of innocence Making love meaningless without the trappings The spark a handsome ribbon Tying the contents together Bodies are only playhouses Biology an extravaganza Hunted, captured Shipped, imprisoned, exiled Enslaved, colonised, tortured Indoctrinated, miseducated Endured, persevered Africa born within me Emancipated Shackles removed from my feet Denigrated, segregated, separated Cried at the top of my voice Marched, picketed Banished, boycotted Wrestled, struggled Assimilated, assassinated Offering human sacrifices Shackles removed from my hands Freedom arrived in an a box marked with an X Re-educated Inspired, committed Africa growing inside Her human spirit flourishing Love my people, love me! One more hurdle to go Remove shackles from my mind, our mind set Capture my soul Free my people Liberate mankind from poverty of thought Strumming a familiar melody Resonating with my heart My memories a song book No chart toppers Just evidence from another lifetime An era that was Music reminding me The errors of my ways Reminding me of that was Humming a familiar tune The same songs from before A catalogue of greatest hits Praying for harmony Serenaded by rhythm Pulling my heart strings Soothed by the ambience of the cello Violin strings tense Pulling my heart strings Drumming the sense into a being Rattled by the electric guitar Reminding me of a different time When things were in concert When I was a rock star Now listening to the instruments A soundtrack to a miracle Pulling my heart strings Writing my song My heart pulling the strings The world my instrument Rumours of rain A speculative phrase Storms brewing Violent pebbles eating away at the river bed The scars deep The anguish much deeper The storm within a hurricane Undercurrents eternal Forever far away Infinity the boundary of imagination The last number Rumours of rain Thoughts planted by others growing in our minds The storm within a hurricane Awaiting an end of a natural disaster The world in a blender Disintegrate a nature of violence An end of a storm A sunny day away When the world decides to show its true colours A phrase becomes a promise A weather report a phrase Precipitation a kept promise Drought a breach Expectation dyed by the overcast surroundings I love you a phrase A promise to be a strong sail The storm forever brewing Undercurrents a permanent feature Rumours of rain A speculation of calamity Skies always partly cloudy Anticipating thunders showers of rain Never planting the seed Afraid to cross the river Cultivating a breach of promise Harvesting empty promises A pebble in a storm on the horizon Held captive by imagination Breathing a reflex Living a piece of cake Topped with cream and nuts Enjoying bubbles of oxygen hidden in chocolate Inhaling and exhaling The elements at your beck and call Survival on the other hand A matter of life and death Living a leisure Scrounging for oxygen not routine Fighting to stay alive Singing lullabies to the heart Retouching memory Anything to protract a demise Dealt a blow Playing the current hand Love of living holding on Body parts in survival mode Making do an active exercise Living passive like breathing A by the way A by-product of a struggle Survival a must Lifestyle an optional extra Stuck in the basement of a triangle Living merely a finishing touch Survival an imaginative exercise like 3D cinematography Living like extras on a set Stars survive Survival an epic Emerging from the east Each rising of the Sun Bringing a possibility of punishment Chinese water torture Only without the water Droplets of memory falling onto your lap The constant splatter annoying Looking at a semblance of a life Particles of joy leaving you glistening with satisfaction Surrounded by murky waters Tortured by destiny The circumstances an unwilling servant Executing heavenly orders Nearly killing a weaker man The cause of the annoyance strengthening every sinew Sharpening every thought Strangled by the present Freed by an exercise of thought Liberty a mental state A state of being Coming to terms with the intricacies of existence Beyond the constant splatter On the other side of unchartered waters Lies a pool of possibility A free man Baggage discarded Tortured by the yearning for less of the same Tired of more of the same Life beckoning at this very moment Laughter an achievement Tears too much like droplets Dampening the mood Weigh down on possibility Tortured by expectation Youll never know how strong you are Until being strong is no longer a choice Singing shosholoza Muscles toned The terrain flabbergasted Astounded by the necessity for acupuncture Pierced by pick-axe after pick-axe Synchronised labour Creating a domino effect Pain passed from rock through sand to stone Preparing a path to progress Boulders excavated Trees uprooted Ecosystems ravaged Singing in unison as they toil The acappella melody soothing Numbing the pain The men united in purpose Following the plotters markings The mountain diverted, averted, avoided Sometimes tunnelled Only the mountain keeps reappearing Making the men toil harder Their synchronised efforts not yielding Seemingly in vain Try as they may To out manoeuvre the mountain The mountain keeps reappearing The men digging deeper Their souls weary Not paid to think But beginning to ponder the point of their purpose Despite their toil Not arriving at progress Beginning to question the wisdom of progress Belted by the sun Their shade uprooted Their pick axes metamorphosised No longer digging tools Baying for the plotters blood The plotter cuts his losses The men disgruntled Victims of their shallow aspirations Returning to their villages Welcomed by a familiar sight The mountain keeps reappearing Their ploughing fields desolate Livestock depleted Families famished The ecosystem to blame A ravaged ecosystem bears the blame Drought the diagnosis The men ascend the mountain Unable to pray for rain The boulders of culture excavated Unable to pray in their own language Pain passed from generation to generation The mountain laughs Draped in chocolate A centre core of sweetness Immersed in eye candy Chocolate coated honeys Clad in nothing but brown skin Chocolate melting in the mouth Telling the taste buds many stories Amazed by the numerous textures Shades of the same colour A band of sweetness Dark chocolate Milky ways of oohs and aahs Tantilising slabs of ecstasy Melting the heart Relishing chocolate cake Biting into billions of bubbles Black forest cake with cream Every square inch soft like a chocolate muffin Tasteful seduction Candy was her name Flattering the taste buds Telling all sorts of stories Tales of endearment Sweet like a love story Falling for flakes of fantasy My tongue experiencing moments of luxury Each nibble concentrated with different consequences Sprinkled with fruit and nut Spreading a smile Licking her lips Please forgive me I beg your pardon Am about to step on your toes Am kinda fed up With you and your kind Black folk in particular No offence intended But you getting on my nerves Behaving like a scorned lover Forever longing for acceptance They aint never gonna love you Get with the program, get used to it Nurturing hurt, perpetuating pain Instead of harnessing anger Generate a positive self-image Sharpen your spear, your asseggai Loving yourself is a start If you dont embrace who you are How the hell do you expect others to? Just cos you been treated like dirt Dont mean youre dirt Stop being ignorant Ditch the slave mentality Embrace your African roots Elevate yourself, educate yourself Youre the master of your destiny Yet you give others power over you Instead of being an African Stand up and be counted Amongst men and women who loved themselves Loved themselves so dearly Opting to die rather than remain a slave, remain silent I beg your pardon Am about to step on your toes again Focusing on Slavery Ignoring the Africans singing Negro Spirituals The endurance to survive the cotton fields Traumatizing your hair Entertaining skin lighteners Losing your essence As beautiful as Ashanti gold is on Wesley Snipes chest No amount of gold can supplant your love for yourself Your love of an Afro Your nappy hair is a gift from God Yet you persist to attempt to appease them Fighting their wars, marrying them Only to be paid with scorn and ridicule Playing victim is disempowering It defeats the purpose Identifying with Slavery Ignoring Africa Harness your anger Arm yourself with knowledge Achieve something Youre not a descendent of slaves Cotton pickers were Africans Athletic as the body may be Despite the obvious toned muscles It is the soul Lifting the combination of technique and co-ordination Gliding it over hurdles A combination of science and spirituality Rumours from ancestors The blood alone isnt enough Something else paints the picture My guess as good as yours The essence of experience An unheralded destination illuminating the picture Sifting through a matrix Twirling, leaping, somersaulting While the body lies there Laying in stately idleness Visiting forthcoming attractions Moments in time Destinations desired by the heart The soul transcends generations Defying the laws of gravity Going up when down is logical No matter how illogical The soul makes sense of things Cultivating barren plains Feeding a nation out of despair Housing the body The body merely a shovel Pitiless without spirit Yet, killing the spirit is a white lie Killing the body a crime Valuing the house Ignoring the home Enthralled by her footsteps Captivated by her words Words spoken in honesty Depicted by her poise Her voice a mystery Wanting to read her Like Stevie Wonder would Feel each pore on her skin Write her a song Play her like a piano Decipher her Bring her to an eruption Capture the melody of her voice Understand the meaning of her movement Her hips saying so much Not only confirming her gender Highlighting who she truly is The manner of her speech Too deep for one life time Her physique Though accentuated by her blackness Desiring her mind Her body a bonus Bringing meaning to words Teaching them to prance to her movement Dance to the rhythm of her hips For she is deep Making the oceans between Seem like puddles in the road Life everything between now and then A dash between two dates Death giving meaning to life Placing parameters on wishful thinking Death a fact of life A comma in a short story Sometimes a death is a birth Some people live beyond the grave Leaving an impression on this world Death is inevitable Some surrender to harsh realities Destroyed by consequences of slavery Dying before their time People with a zest for life going against the norm Challenging the surroundings Dreaming big Stretching the parameters Negotiating with an inevitability Daring to live Remembering Africa Living beyond the grave Touching lives to this day Living an act of denial Squeezing a lifetime into a dash Life a marathon of choices Your outlook the most critical Nobody wants to finish first in this race A race against time Some dying young and beautiful A few campaigning for immortality Establishing a legacy Planting seeds and thoughts Courting a dynasty Only a mere mortal entertaining immortality Seeking an understanding Death not new to us Giving life meaning Death verifying a fact of life A colourful wheel Spinning in the playground The giggles of toddlers filling the air Laughing as one of them falls Spilled by the wheel Spinning out of control The ride exhilarating Mesmerising body parts Juggling organs of thought Sky diving made easy The wheel spinning The ride addictive The stuff dreams are made of Offered a single ride Going where the wheel takes me Holding on tightly The possibility of falling part of the fun The actual fall part of life The tumble as exciting Jumping back on courageous Dusting off myself Licking my grazes Whilst others watch the wheel spinning Always in the background Afraid of falling Too scared to live Sometimes it spins out of control Threatening my comfort Adding to the excitement Enjoying the ride The spills part of the fun Part of life in the foreground Oh this merry go round Between here and there Lies perception Everything a degree of sorts Black from here to here Indigo between this and that An acceptable aspersion A perception of sorts Between wavelengths Incidents of thought occur Engaging in greatness Sharing ideas with the like-minded Entertaining espionage Grappling to understand purpose Life a pouch of secrets A broadband with a vast bandwidth Negotiating degree Watching opposing poles Interlocking alike mind sets Breaking the ice with a warm smile Nothing is concrete Were all stuck in an emulsion A metamorphosis of shape Form merely an interpretation of physics Expressing a variety of shades All experiencing varying degrees of hardship Liquid, steam, ice - expressions of water People like molecules Character a spectrum of personality Greatness boundless, just is Not from here to there Precision a lie The angle of sight so telling Its been one of those days, Those unexpected days, When the world agrees with you, Flatters you like they fatten sheep Before the slaughter, Always got to have your back Even when the world buys you a cocktail Especially when youre sailing the smooth seas Stirring my drink with its umbrella Cos its only a matter of time The rainy days may return at any moment The rough seas The dark clouds Are forever lurking in the vicinity Seagulls hovering like vultures in the Kalahari Impatient for a misjudgement or two Waiting to feast on your demise Give in without a fight I surrender my body Yielding without a fight Letting the elements do as they please My soul soaring The sails taut Enjoying my cocktail so long Watching the world dot my is Cross my ts Cos when I got my back It aint me doing the watching Cos for starters I cant see my back Waiting for the elements to cross my path So I can be humbled Experience another lesson Lifes a never ending education Holding onto the silver lining Comfortable with destinys promise My location within the ecosystem A reserved seat Praying my ancestors intercede on my behalf Book my place amongst peers Asking the Almighty for tickets With my back turned Praying, you got my back Indulging Judas The guy who buys you a drink Shares a toast with you At peace with the state of affairs! Ending my prayer with RSVP You left in haste You left without saying goodbye Leaving your perfume behind Impressions of your feet remain in the carpet Visions of your long legs in my mind Your scent is all over the house Without an explanation Without blowing me a kiss Your earrings are still here Am not surprised by the sudden departure Cos you know I loved you Your words my music Your presence my throne Only if you werent such a coward Afraid of love Too scared of consequences Yet you do love Too timid to express it This is a first for me Dumped for the wrong-right reasons Normally Im guilty as shit Forget Valentines Day Stuff the roses Its you I want My only sin - was loving you to the bone My mistake Wanting to kiss the hurt away Detach you from a past Gently remove the thorns of pain You must have felt the might of my love Too afraid to love Frightened of being loved Too scared of the disappointment that may follow Sometimes deja vous never arrives! No longer deliberating under the shade of tree Detached from a common pain Neglecting a sacred pact A united front shattered Broken by broken promises Forgetting too soon Freedom obtained with reason I write what I like sparking a revolution Creating a chain reaction, changing many a mind set Identifying mental slavery as the arch enemy Forgetting too soon Freedom obtained with constructive engagement Talks about talks A bosberaad in the middle of nowhere An indaba immersing itself into the vocabulary Locals developing the language of negotiation Gathering under a tree Giving birth to a rainbow nation Words have an untold power Nkos Sikelela iAfrika for example Giving a continent a mandate to stand up Forgetting too soon, a gathering under a tree The cornerstone of our civilisation Heads of reason too afraid participate Frightened by a general lack of understanding Attention diverted by an illusion of comfort The comfort of material a mirage Shouting and chanting Displaying a reasonable behaviour from another era Forgetting reason is governed by parameters Material conditions of everyday life - time, place, and motive Forgetting too soon The long walk to freedom a momentous journey Now a marketing tool The sole domain of the powers that be Worshipping idols, colonisers inaugurating a messiah Pinning our hopes on a false hope Indigenous reasoning heckled Native intelligence removed from the agenda Dancing, shouting, singing Entertaining the population instead of providing leadership The populous singing along in a trance Deferring a dream Giving up on Great Zimbabwe No longer deliberating under the shade of tree Forgetting to think Thought out of fashion Pop culture offers no substance The current state of affairs offering no substance Forgetting too soon No longer deliberating under the shade of tree Engaging in gossip Discussing personalities Conduits of patronage Small minds in abundance Ideas and ideals out of fashion Across the length and breadth of the continent Shouting at the top of our voices Demanding respect Disrespecting the great leaders that we are Ignoring the voice from within Heckling the voice of reason Forsaking courage Forgetting too soon The art of diplomacy a mere recollection No longer deliberating under the shade of tree Depicting my perspective Writing in a foreign language Highlighting the gravity of the situation Black man wake up! There is no messiah Only a tree in a clearing in the veld Words from a childhood echoing Dont raise your voice, improve your argument Discontent misplaced The season of reason is gone Sometimes I wonder Amazed by my largest organ Being born black Endowed generously Blessed with the ability to withstand Taking on the Sahara Defeating the Atlantic trade No amount of lashes Misrepresentation Nor miseducation Diminishes its stature A mirror image of rhythm Making music despite the circumstances A quilt of a common pain Clothing the first citizens Gift wrapping supermodels and the downtrodden alike Stretching to beat microseconds Giving gold a platform to shine Basking in the glory No sun screen necessary Nourished with jet black arrogance Tarnished by ignorance Chocolate, cafe au lait, cream A spectrum of coffee colour The embodiment of what makes you black Moistened with tears Sometimes I wonder Its tenacity to withstand amazes me Sometimes its good To be the shade I am Though averse to water sports Dominating the gene pool Sparkling in maternal eyes Spawning a population from love making Communicated best with babble-speak Love has a vocab of its own Life teaching you to identify it The way she looks at you Her hungry eyes making contact with your insides Wanting to devour you Apprehension eating you from the inside For without butterflies It is not the real thingamajig Love frighteningly beautiful Our closest encounter with a burning bush The apex of spirituality Bonding two spirits with superglue Making love to Neo-soul Interrupted by vicious shagging Two bodies going at it like gladiators Fighting to the death Collapsing in defeat together Holding onto each other for no reason Love expressed even better with body language A hug a procedure with immense proportions Allowing the heart a voice Comforting insecurities Establishing an ecosystem Participants prone to doing strange things All because of love Dying and rejuvenating at will Love has a life of its own When eventuality arrives The body departs Arriving where the spirit lies The spirit is always on a reconnaissance mission Pioneers arent ground breakers Merely followers of the spirit Just like the body Venturing to where the heart lies Daring to cross battle-lines Fight for freedom The spirit is a boundless wandering soul Seeking a secret garden Enchanted by tranquillity Not the quiet of a garden The peace of derived surroundings Eventuality is only a matchmaker A reunion of body and soul Eventuality is death for most A dream come-true for a few Sparking from desire Everybody gets what they want Eventuality gift wrapping the desired contents The body a mode of transport An identity book The soul commands the elements Pleads with the composer Soul music a heavenly composition Eventuality an instrument Time a melody A song with a message Eventuality a drama queen Everything a prescription A medicine of sorts Application guidelines compulsory Tagged fragile Packaged accordingly Bound by etiquette Manners make a man The demeanour of a toast Keeping within the norm Forgetting my manners Breaching a code of conduct Conducting myself in accordingly Lacking common courtesy Depriving myself of a common decency Handling myself shabbily A discourtesy self-inflicted Failing to peruse the conditions of sale The terms and conditions Despite the fine print Whether external or internal Everybody governed by a set of rules An aura of sorts The frequently asked questions not going away Encrypted in the genes Deep within bones Lies etiquette The user manual The essence of a writer A binding contract A testament of a mind set (A tribute to Steve Biko) Born into slavery Forever free Selfish with the soul Generous of mind Charitable with life Medicines loss A nations gain Provoking radical thought Irking my conscience Your questions very personal Your simplicity appreciated Reflective of your nature An embodiment of the modern African An urban legend An intellectual of the self An everyday person Ploughing neglected minds Breeding blacks Mobilising egotistical students into a force Inspiring a generation Wish you could see your harvest Being visionary Obviously you can Your simplicity genetic Inherited by your offspring Wish it was contagious So all can be infected Simple yet profound Your parents must have known Christening you with responsibility Embracing it with both hands and mind I guess they had to kill you You cant imprison thought Your reasoning was high treason without the T On a winters day in 76 the struggle reached its turning point Soweto grasped your reasoning, challenging the world Bearing testimony to your influence Walking on Bantu Biko Street a way of life Black on Black validation Making the pains worthwhile I guess your mother would concur Your generosity and charity A product of the human face you identified A face you identified with Africas human face Underplayed by beneficiaries of your toil Your sphere of influence is growing Our grey matter blackening I wish we could clone you Mass produce you in the population Mental liberation a destination I write what I like my bible My life the next chapter One day youll be famous Like the other guy who died naked Cos you cant kill thought either Your spirit, Frank Talk lives on An urban legend to some The truth After midnight arrives The next day begins Awake like an owl Watching regrets cascade After midnight shows up Dreams play themselves out After midnight drive-in Tumbling out of dreamland Entering into a factory of dreams Every day a drop in the ocean Born in the dark of night Falling into loving arms Plunging into a pool of dreams In a beautiful place Like the gardens of Babylon A terrace of beauty After midnight arrives Each day arrives at a different tier Surrendering to its whims Watching the sun falling into place After midnight begins to arrive Plunging into dreamland Treading into ancestral lands Succumbing to a deeper meaning After midnight arrives Dreams are planted Each day a conveyor belt between tiers Toppling kingdoms Watching the midnight arrive The last supper When a man cries Expressing an infinite longing To be a man amongst men To love and be loved Feel pain Only then can others follow To cry when hurt Cos thats what makes a man For without tears he is incomplete A strong man knows when to cry The making of a man An arduous responsibility A difficult path at best To be a man A man must grow like an evergreen shrub Banish the boy Kill his dreams without severing his manhood Deal with reality Fearing what awaits a man To be a man amongst men Fall when the world demands When should a man cry? Only a man alone decides the appropriate moment Cos when a man cries A damp admission of mortality emerges The world in the waiting room A man must fall from grace Cry for goodness sake End an infinite longing Escape the myth The strength of a man isnt infinite But equal to the variety of ache he has endured Only but a man A king unto himself Shackles on our feet Shackles in our hearts, minds and soul Shackles from our recent past ringing in our memory Suffocating our spirit Too many black men behind bars Confined to an empty existence An inner city fence restraining our expression Losing our essence, our dress sense Our sense of self lost in desert of ignorance Unable to dance to our rhythm The chains of slavery dangling to this day Tying us to evidence of a holocaust Limiting our movement Impeding our march Our progress as a people placed on pause Short steps placed on our giant strides Our glorious history of achievement and innovation locked away Shackles in our hearts Driving a wedge between kings and queens Destroying the extended family Erasing a collective memory Entertaining a genocide Perpetuating a crime against humanity Shackles in our minds Bound to a lie A negative perception of ourselves Sibling rivalry sprouting like weeds in garden Failing to follow our ancestors To write what I like Attached to a mentality Despising one another by design Disliking an innocent colour A reflection of the Universe denied its place at the table Losing our complexion, our make up Drowning in a pool of bleach Shackles on our feet Shackles in our hearts, minds and soul Shackles from our recent past ringing in our memory Suffocating our spirit Glorifying the ghetto When the ghetto is no heaven Following deities designed to demean us Detouring our drive towards humanity Despite the depiction The description in scriptures God is an African Shackled to a degrading existence Surely death is better Rather we all die Die a better man, woman, child Lose these shackles Die for an ideal Decolonise the mind Remember Africa Resurrect our collective soul Wake up and smell the coffee! Addicted to an addiction Body heat a narcotic Drawn to softness Suppleness a foreign phenomenon Addicted to an ancient ritual Drawn to the high Stimulated by primal instincts Genes wanting to swim Adding finishing touches to a complete being Hooked to the texture of compatibility Biting into the bubbles of cake Licking the cream of her face The ritual of love Addiction by nature Natural selection a matchmaker Missing the accompanying silliness Holding hands Laughing simultaneously The journey to losing yourself Ending in a cry of ecstasy Becoming an item Completing each others sentences Addicted to love Infatuation infectious Locking lips and hips Addicted to the opposite sex An anonymous player .