Waiting for Aylan
Waiting to embrace you
And cuddle you to my frozen heart
Waiting to accept you
So my heart may melt and doors may open
Waiting to hold you close
And tear down indifference and disdain
Waiting to shut your eyes
So your silence may silence the guns
Waiting….
Just waiting for you Aylan
Waiting to lay you to rest
So we may know no rest without love
Waiting to honour you Aylan
For as you came to shore, our humanity diminished.
Waiting for your rising
To soften our hearts of stone.
Waiting for Aylan.
©Mildred Ngesa Poetry – August 2015
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Friday, April 17, 2015
Shame on you #XenophobicSouthAfrica!
Shame on you!
This is the song that we now sing to you – until you re-think this madness of xenophobia.
Shame on you!
Shame on you for fueling the stereotype that within the blood of Africans lies the unrelenting urge to kill one’s kin and eat his liver,
Shame on you #XenophobicSouthAfrica!
While the continent is struggling and grappling with fixing leaking holes,
You are drilling even further, senselessly spilling the blood of your innocent kin,
Shame on you!
Should we crush the Al shabaab, eradicate the Boko Haram, eliminate the Anti-BalaKa or now purge #XenophobicSouthAfrica?
#XenophobicSouthAfrica, for many decades we stood with you and wept with you, and sang with you and hoped with you,
For many decades, we refused to be totally free, until you too were free,
For a long time, we looked at you and searched our souls to learn resilience,
For a long time, we sat by the feet of the father of your Nation and learnt forgiveness,
Shame on you for killing the hopes and dreams of a continent seeking renaissance
Seeking true freedom that has never truly been our preserve,
#XenophobicSouthAfrica you disgust me!
Poverty? Unemployment? Since when did killing a neighbor, burning down his house and slashing down a defenseless child solve your poverty and grant you a job?
Since when did your rubbish mob psychology of sinking your anger and frustrations on defenseless neighbors solve your problems?
There you are South Africa, giving the world no option but to sing to you a song of horrific disgust,
From what we are seeing about the real you – the xenophobic you, what song do you possibly wish us to sing for you?
“Tula tula , tula mama, tula” no longer seems to suit you, yet we sang it for you right through our childhood until you were free,
What do we tell the God of South Africa who granted you the freedom you so desperately yearned for from generation to generation?
What do we say?
Does “Nkosi sikelel'iAfrica” mean anything to you any more? Does it matter to you that your kin laid down their all so that you may rise?
#XenophobicSouthAfrica you spilled so much blood to wash away the brutality of Apartheid but now you split the blood of the same brother who fought alongside you so that you may be free?
I mean, what kind of twisted sickness is that??
The Marikana Killings shocked us all and you, SouthAfrica, said the blood of the African is cheap – we mourned with you,
But now, you have cheapened it further by your senseless brutality against your own blood – what utter infamy!
Shame on you for tainting the blood of the children of the cradle of humanity out of misplaced anger orchestrated by selfish bigotry,
Shame on you for the audacity to claim that the plight you suffer in the game of survival is because of the visitors who came to your backyard to celebrate the victory of liberty that we all share,
Don’t blame it on the balding guy in the statehouse, he has no control over your arm when you raise it to strike a defenceless man,
Don’t blame it on your empty pockets, the wise will tell you that if you do not work, you do not eat – it doesn’t matter how small the pay is!
Please do not blame it on inner turmoil for he who walks the face of the earth carries with him turmoil to the grave - be he a pauper or a prince,
Turmoil and life are twins and turmoil does not justify violence against a brother,
So shame on you #XenophopicSouthAfrica for blood is in your hands and a continent’s stature intimates you even when your madness provokes so much anger and disgust,
#XenophobicSouthAfrica, every xenophobic attack dehumanizes you,
How will you ever look us in the eye again?
Yes, go ahead and clean it up, do whatever it takes to forever bury this madness,
But even as you do, once again;
Shame on you #XenophobicSouthAfrica!
This is the song that we now sing to you – until you re-think this madness of xenophobia.
Shame on you!
Shame on you for fueling the stereotype that within the blood of Africans lies the unrelenting urge to kill one’s kin and eat his liver,
Shame on you #XenophobicSouthAfrica!
While the continent is struggling and grappling with fixing leaking holes,
You are drilling even further, senselessly spilling the blood of your innocent kin,
Shame on you!
Should we crush the Al shabaab, eradicate the Boko Haram, eliminate the Anti-BalaKa or now purge #XenophobicSouthAfrica?
#XenophobicSouthAfrica, for many decades we stood with you and wept with you, and sang with you and hoped with you,
For many decades, we refused to be totally free, until you too were free,
For a long time, we looked at you and searched our souls to learn resilience,
For a long time, we sat by the feet of the father of your Nation and learnt forgiveness,
Shame on you for killing the hopes and dreams of a continent seeking renaissance
Seeking true freedom that has never truly been our preserve,
#XenophobicSouthAfrica you disgust me!
Poverty? Unemployment? Since when did killing a neighbor, burning down his house and slashing down a defenseless child solve your poverty and grant you a job?
Since when did your rubbish mob psychology of sinking your anger and frustrations on defenseless neighbors solve your problems?
There you are South Africa, giving the world no option but to sing to you a song of horrific disgust,
From what we are seeing about the real you – the xenophobic you, what song do you possibly wish us to sing for you?
“Tula tula , tula mama, tula” no longer seems to suit you, yet we sang it for you right through our childhood until you were free,
What do we tell the God of South Africa who granted you the freedom you so desperately yearned for from generation to generation?
What do we say?
Does “Nkosi sikelel'iAfrica” mean anything to you any more? Does it matter to you that your kin laid down their all so that you may rise?
#XenophobicSouthAfrica you spilled so much blood to wash away the brutality of Apartheid but now you split the blood of the same brother who fought alongside you so that you may be free?
I mean, what kind of twisted sickness is that??
The Marikana Killings shocked us all and you, SouthAfrica, said the blood of the African is cheap – we mourned with you,
But now, you have cheapened it further by your senseless brutality against your own blood – what utter infamy!
Shame on you for tainting the blood of the children of the cradle of humanity out of misplaced anger orchestrated by selfish bigotry,
Shame on you for the audacity to claim that the plight you suffer in the game of survival is because of the visitors who came to your backyard to celebrate the victory of liberty that we all share,
Don’t blame it on the balding guy in the statehouse, he has no control over your arm when you raise it to strike a defenceless man,
Don’t blame it on your empty pockets, the wise will tell you that if you do not work, you do not eat – it doesn’t matter how small the pay is!
Please do not blame it on inner turmoil for he who walks the face of the earth carries with him turmoil to the grave - be he a pauper or a prince,
Turmoil and life are twins and turmoil does not justify violence against a brother,
So shame on you #XenophopicSouthAfrica for blood is in your hands and a continent’s stature intimates you even when your madness provokes so much anger and disgust,
#XenophobicSouthAfrica, every xenophobic attack dehumanizes you,
How will you ever look us in the eye again?
Yes, go ahead and clean it up, do whatever it takes to forever bury this madness,
But even as you do, once again;
Shame on you #XenophobicSouthAfrica!
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