The Unveiling Of Jozi Poem by Raymond Magabe

Here is a place.
It has swallowed many a man
And given birth to just as many.
Dreams have been shuttered here
And nightmares brought to life.

It’s hell, they say.
But many still call it a home:
I’m one of that many.

I have found shelter within these rusted walls that stand in a stare
When wallets are being fearfully given away.
I have gone to sleep in the midst of screams and gun shots
And hoped for a better today in the morning.
I have tripped over the depth of my own dreams
And woke up to the nightmare of this city’s reality.

I am a product of it’s daily “voetsek”
On the traffic jam out of this grave.
I am the son of the many daughters that gave their dreams to it.

I am a Jo’burger to the core,
And I know all that glitters is not gold.
Windscreens glitter too after an accident down Soweto highway.