No Pun Intended

I cannot see beyond this page,

My words have become inferior to those who conduct tyranny in their strides,

I have walked through dark shadows,

Green pastures,

Shallow streams,

Open graves,

But never looked down on any path,

My struggles could only remind me of ancient days,

When kingdoms fell in each other’s dens,

When inked feathers collided with hessians,

Galvanized swords with corroded flesh,

Iron rods with bow-and-arrows,

And entities with entities;

It reminded me of my mother’s days,

When her tears could puzzle up the hail teenage activists necessitated to retaliate,

When her blood profoundly splattered visible the emblem engraved under our pigment,

When her scowls and brows stood still to raise the retention banner of our forefathers land,

Into our conquest,

Apartheid fell,

Our old flag fell,

Human trafficking fell,

Xenophobia fell,

Rhodes fell,

Tyrant monuments fell,

Now fees must fall,

Nyoape must fall,

Corruption must fall,

France must fall moreover.

They colonized, and tortured,

Ridiculed our African raw skin while disguised in black robes,

Bibs,

Glittering shoes and wigs;

People run from their reality because it’s dull,

No spill glimmer in it,

And face the light.

By: Ts Mashile