Black Cries Poem by Malibongwe Mfiki

My words are stuck in my mouth

any form of utterance i'm deprived of

as I trickle my ink down the pages

of this bartered scroll



I mould the words from inside

as a sculpturist would

carve his work with pride

sweat on my forhead as I begin to

write my saga

the woes and throes of a black

warrior, a child of the forest and valleys

I embod within me 400 hundred years

of slavery and shattered dreams



Around my neck I bear

a chain of Ignorance, a yoke of inferiority

impeding my progress.

they blinded me by handing me a bible

telling me a Jew was my Lord.



I had no faith in mine own abilities

'cause according them

I was not good enough to be a Lord

a righteous king and saviour

they said love your neighbour

throughout history I see more blood

than brotherhood.