The Dance Poem by Niki Nicholas Nkuna

So many ignoramuses dancing in the rain,
Rejoicing forever in the mistaken believe,
Manna from heaven is forever,
Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow static,
Under the deejay's control,
The shebeen owners' dozens' incessant flow,
Refuels the juju dance to highs, lows and lost sensibilities,

The yelling of the revellers runs high up the sky,
Leaving the ground yearning for more pounding and sound,
Its anger roused to the limit,
Painting the entire dance community one colour,
To resemble the lost sheep,
I passed by the joint, seeing the apparitions,
Dancing in the faint of the day,
Joined by their sculls, the reason for the unreasoning,
The joint claiming to exercise marriage rights all the time,
The illegimate children remonstrating infinitum with no head way,

Even the drums full of rain water beyond the shebeen, dried up,
Changing the moonlighting day,
The dancers' hearts sank in the shebeen kitchen sink,
Missing the day's march,
Revelling receded to the mind of the dancer,
Racing in the dreamland,
The longing for the dance got rekindled,
Like wood fire, time and time again,
The broken dance mood leaves a sorrowful state,
If only I had not danced with high heel shoes,
I would be having my full legs to dance again,
If only I had left my wallet at home and took little money,
I would have saved all my money from the rats,
Which often steal my money and leave by the locked back door,
At the behest of the sheeben owner,
If only I had not taken along
The rhino horns of the journey man,
I would not have missed the cinema,
If only I had known I would not have signed
The barbed wire marriage certificate,
Now, I am stuck in a vehicle that can only move in reverse gear,
Taking me back where I have been, to the dance hall.