Happy Birthday Nelson Mandela (Posthumouslty) Poem by Sarah Mkhonza

We never have enough,
Of the wisdom of leaders,
Whose voices ring true,
Even to an angry nation,
Where the truth was hatred,
Told and touched in its coldness,
To be smashed at the end of time
And be told not to try,
To engage the people of the land,
In useless words that kill,
For all souls are special,
Ready to make a new nation,
That can stand on its own,
And be the envy of the world.

We never get tired,
Of thinking about your words
Well said Nelson
For you taught us to talk
To hold hands and sing
For we are one inside
As we walk the land you led
To a place of oneness
That few could imagine
After years of fueling hate
In a system of me not you.

Well thought out and executed,
This creation of truth,
This nation in rags,
That was dressed in red blood,
For people died in prisons,
Both on land and on islands,
To buy today's freedom,
Which we use like the soap and suds,
Of the rivers of yesterday,
Which let their water flow even now,
In their perennial beds,
That are today as dry,
As the deserts in the west,
That stand with the high dunes,
Of sand that roll on and on.

Nelson well said
A life is a life
A man is a man
He builds and then goes
Does his house fall after he goes?
The words remain his words.

Never to be imitated
Never to spoken in like manner
In this land of the south
Where people live and sing
About truths you told.

To miss a life is all we do
To repeat the words also
When the gifts were shared
By a nation in despair
That was taught to be one.

We miss the advice
Let bygones be bygones
We do not want to let you go
For bygones cannot be bygones
When we need you as 'Tata.'
For fathers are not easy to find,
For there are no leaders like you,
Who keep the principles we know,
Standing even when they are attacked,
And apply them when the rough gets tough.

It is easy to make a baby
To raise it is another task
The challenges face us
The mind you shared with us
Leads us even in the dark
For we cannot bring you back
But follow you in time
Such are men of honor
For where you went
is where all heroes
Of our struggle have gone.

There are days I sing
And walk in your energy
And ask how you could forgive
For the act is hard
When I have looked at the enemy
Whose dogs sniffed my food
Looking for weapons at the border
Where fires were lit on roads
And a gun was pointed at me

I am thankful for the example
To know it can be done
My nerves tell me to become
A Madiba inside and stand
Like a Tembu chief would
As the elders taught you
For this is what you taught
That love frees the slave
That has an enemy in its
Neighbor the fellow man.