Hold On Poem by Isaac Maliya

“Hold on! ”
Voices one
An Azanian Rastaman
You heard not for diction
For time gap.

Voice of one
Substance ladden
Shake heart tendons
Save the historical memory
Tattooing us with scars
Of toiling years of yours.

An Azanian Rastaman
Longs you to “hold you”
Fruits of thy womb
Forth in multitude cometh
Settling bills of thy toil
Of thy struggle to see us through.

Thou heard not
Seeing us not
On closure of thy chapter
Seeing thee not
On being rested. Why?
“Hold on” was a phrase.

Dedication: To Lucky Dube, and to my
Mother who did not “Hold on”.

Friday,27th December 1991.
Blantyre, Malawi.