Helicopters whirring overhead
I ran down the corridor of City Hall,
Looking for a window to peek out of
I have landed
In the reception committee
The crowd outside screams
With anticipation and euphoria
You can palpably see the dignity
Everyone’s fists raised in the air,
Grieving Madiba’s loss
With tears streaming down their cheeks
And chanting in unison:
“We are holding the ground”
Tata is gone forever
But he has changed for good
The map of world’s ethics
*****
Once upon the time
Plantation aristocracy
Believed themselves God’s chosen,
And their slaves inhuman
Slavery, then, stung like a whiplash
Today this magnolia-scented hell
Has the eerie impact of a museum exhibit;
It is a diorama of atrocity,
Populated by varying forms of monstrosity
So near-Utopian scene
This might be the springboard to satire
It creates a splendid anachronism:
A modern rom-com that is
Laugh-and-cry and warm all over,
Totally sweet and utterly serious
The dulcet melancholy of a man
Whose emotional pain
Finds refuge in his sweetheart’s embrace
*****
Time travel is tough on the brain
A tall, slender, shaggy-haired man
Several police agents dressed in plainclothes
Converged on him, pushed him up against a window,
Then escorted him from the building
To his 46664 new identity
Behind bars
As a prelude to prophecy
Whose legacy resonates around the world
His name is Rolihlahla,
which translated from Xhosa means literally
“Pulling a branch off a tree” — or,
More colloquially, “troublemaker.”
And this saintly man has no equal
He shares smiles
Distributes kisses and hugs
And forgives his jailors
And even adopts them
And becomes their baba