Deportation Poem by Thabani Khumalo

EVEN DENNEBOOM WAS FREE
AND BLUE FOR BUSINESS DAYS
UNTIL THERE CAME A STRANGER;
A SOLDIER WITH A GUN –
THAT I SAW A SHEARED ADJUSTMENT.

I SAW ONE OTHER MAN
RUN FASTER THAN A STONE –
A CATAPULT STONE
WITH ANXIETY IN HIS SOUL.
HE RAN DESPITE THE INDIGNITY.

HE RECALLED ONLY A CHILD
WHOSE LIFE HE’D SWORN TO PRESERVE;
A CHILD HE HAD TO TEND,
A CHILD OF LIVING SOUL –
AND HE HAD TO TAKE THE BREAD.

THIS IS THE STORY OF THE HEADS;
THE LEADERS OF THE COUNTRIES
WHO RAN THE SYSTEM COLD
AND TORTURED EVERY MAN
THAT THEY RAN DESPITE THE SHAME.

FROM THE CHILDREN OF THE SOIL,
THEY WENT AND SNATCHED THE BREAD
AND THEY GAVE IT TO THEIR OWN
BEFORE THEY SPREAD THE COLD,
AND NOW THE PEOPLE CROWD FOR WARMTH.

THEY BORDERED ALL THE LAND
AND ASSUMED OF ITS CONTROL,
AND BEAT THE FORMER OWNER,
AND BEAT HIM TO THE CORE
SO, HE RAN DESPITE THE INDIGNITY.

THE LEADERS LOOK SLICK,
THEIR CHILDREN LOOK SLICK,
THE SOLDIERS LOOK SLICK
IN AFRICA MY HOME LAND
WHERE I RUN DESPITE THE INDIGNITY