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{Poet’s Note : I wrote this poem for the passing of my very dear friend & comrade, Cecyl Esau, Umkhonto we Sizwe Commander in 2021, as a contribution to his memorial service. Cecyl was given a full Provincial Military Official Funeral. Though the reading was filmed & recorded as part of the proceedings, I recently kept dreaming about Cecyl. I realised that he wanted me to post the poem here. So now I am doing just that, with my love for him, & trust it will be found by some of the soldiers he commanded, who are still living. Cecyl was sentenced for 12yrs imprisonment on Robben Island for his political cum military activity. He later joined the Institute of Justice & Reconciliation, continuing to strengthen Democracy in South Africa, before his passing }

CECYL : SON OF OUR SOIL : CONSUMMATE REVOLUTIONARY 

U stood there
Magnetic 
our sacred Cause ingrained 
in your palms 
expecting nothing but
what a moment would bring
white smile ready
aware of every tiny move in
a congested hostel room
stripping every youthful
illusion with a glance of
undying delicate 
Love

Speaking to our awakening Souls
twinkling merry eyes sharp
moulded from the molten centre
of our shackled land
A confident rod steadfast
in the knowledge of sure
Victory

Cecyl, you clenched your fists
with childlike savvy
age-old African glory
your anger altogether 
pure, clear, controlled 
black crown unkempt 
absolute in a knowingness 
that Truth was the flip side of
Justice 

Your unassuming simplicity 
was beguiling, even enchanting 
your gait quick
when quick was the order 
of the day
your amble sure when
surety demanded it
your rush determined 
as determination 
filled your every fibre
your “I must” became 
“We will !”

Working to free a people
was no game of broken dice
revolutionary ardour was not
a glamorous chessboard 
strategy and tactics 
lived together on hands 
that washed dishes or
delivered poetry books with
Glee

Your no-nonsense attitude 
instilled a commanding respect
in soldier, student and clergyman 
Alike

Firm fingers cradled 
deathly grenades
not in hatred
nor in bitterness
neither with a shred of malice
just a tool, a necessary tool
to unlock ancient 
grids of empty hearts
unlock a nation’s wealth
to share
to fill naked bellies
create rainbows in a 
land destined to be free
to untie ropes of
three hundred crying
Years

Cecyl, Son of our Soil
You accepted the fate of 
a waiting Island like 
others before you 
Robben Island knew your
hopes, goals and desires 
An Island surrounded by 
cool blue waters of our 
Southern Cross seas
washing the organs
of your revolutionary body
as you lay in a 
gloomy prison cell
clarifying objectives
making plans
expanding the inner
dimensions of a mind
on an evolutionary 
Quest

Your throaty laughter
stilled our fears
your calculated indignation and
quiet mirth hid the pain of
separation from family 
your resilience and acceptance 
of dull routine sharpening 
your pin prick intellectual 
Power
all these kept us 
companeras on our 
Toes ! 

Then the Island and its waters 
birthed you into more finely 
tuned Labours of Love
Again you claimed the baton
nothing more, nothing less
there was work to be done
songs to be sung
victories to be
Won

Your stories became fodder 
of inspiration 
your visits memories of
burnished gold
as you traveled across
small dorpies, on trains
busses, in taxis, searching 
Observing 

Held conference with rocks 
and rivers intently watching for 
a message 
an elvish phantom, a lucid dream
a Spirit on a mission 
capturing threads of
silver sayings from earthy
Oumas who offered you 
koesisters and rooibos in tin
mugs which you savoured with 
Glee

You listened with a bleeding Heart
calculating the depths of our pain
heights of our hopes
singing soft praises to our own
inner powers of Godliness 
never missing a single note of
beauty as life unfolded 
unfurled, undulating 
Ever-changing 

Consummate Revolutionary !
ancestors gazed in silent wonder 
sat in unspeakable bliss for
visions you gifted us with
just by being
Present

And as your Star lights another 
corner of our African sky
let it shine down with Madiba’s
with Mahlangu’s, with Johnny Issel’s
Ray Alexander’s, Virginia Engel’s
Chris Hani’s and Neil Aggett
with Annie Salinger, Helen Josephs’s 
Let its lustrous beams 
connect Samora & Cabral
link Guevara and Fidel
weave with our Patron Saint
Revolutionary par Excellence 
Jose SanMartin

Let it twirl and dance with 
every revolutionary tasked 
with aiding the Spirit of Freedom 
a Spirit soaring free from 
hunger on our beloved Africa
as on our writhing Globe
now releasing damaging 
Demons

In your Graduation from Earth 
as you enter your resting rose 
garden released from flesh
send your sparkle of 
quiet Contemplation
send your steely nerves 
your incisive knowingness
send Scales of Justice 
to our ravished townships 
our dark pandokkies 
our ardent campus youth
as a coveted blanket 
across our colourful 
Land 

Let your silver sword of Truth
illuminate those who tread
our corridors of power in
ignorance, confusion and
Greed

Let your heavenly light pierce 
our Khoisan wanderings
our Zulu dancing
our soft Sotho songs
Let it imbue our very
essence with the
Wisdom that
Light follows Dark
Truth never dies
that Justice always walks
along our byways when
Faith becomes our major 
tool and each day a new 
page of focussed loving
Kindness 

To serve, to serve, to serve
A people of the South

Cecyl, Son of our Soil
WE SALUTE YOU !

©GhairoDanielsPoetry&
Song2021
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