? The (King?)question! Poem by Nkululeko Mdudu

Lilo's question is
On my mind a long time:
What is it to be KING?
I grapple with the term
And all associated with the thing.

Does it mean
wearing a Crown
And fine gowns?
Silk sheets;
gold and jewels
at your feet?

When I ask: ‘what',
I mean the innate nobility
and ancestral heritage
that binds a human being
to a certain position:
one's own situation in life.

If, for instance,
I were to ask:
who is fit to be king?
‘King' as in
the ultimate human being,
irrespective of gender:
it would take on new meanings.

Who you are is a constant choice
of character;
what you are is what you are,
you cannot change it.
We say ‘what' in reference to things
that we cannot change or overcome.

‘What the what'
refers to a thing,
a natural State of being?
‘What has happened is
as what's been created
Say the Nguni...

What they say is
part of what they represent.
What they represent is
part of where they're from.
Where they are is
part of where they've come from.
Where they come from is
what informed what they know.

What they should know is
what they are:
What they are is King!

It is extraordinary and true,
wild and civil,
strong and gentle,
loud and sensible
etc and etc.

Or rather let me rephrase:
If a person,
at the age of 90 years,
is able to look back on
their life without regret,
then they are King!

They may have anthrax,
asthma and diabetes,
but if they can
sit up and smile
Then you know that
it was ALL worthwhile.

But is King
a ‘what' or a ‘who'?
When a person asks you:
what is your name;
what goes through your mind?

Is it the same thing as
when someone asks:
who are you?

Well, is it?
Or should it be?
Is there a difference?
I think there is.

Your name is
the home of you individuality,
but you might share it with
Many different people.
What you possess
within that name
Is an inimitable force

through many of life's altercations
and alterations,
you will not be able
to shift the fact that:
it's not just a name;
But your name.

So when you answer and say:
my name is Claudia,
or I am Claudia;
think for a moment [what's a Claudia? ]

It is your name.
[Who is Claudia? ]
You are.

You must have an understanding
of what it represents,
the place it symbolizes
in the form of YOU.

The person, or people
who gave it to you.
And the natural,
earth-bound indestructibility
(or inVEGETAbility) of it.

Hence when some quality or trait
sticks out above the rest,
or manages to merge
with each of the rest,

we give it a name
to eternalize,
infinitize and immortalize it.

Now for the question:
on who you are...

Well that depends
on how and
what you do,
what you know
and who you've known

what you're about,
and ultimately it has
its roots in what you are.