What Happened

Question frequently asked by those who did not join the liberation struggle Nothing. When we realized you weren't with us in exile We invented a rainbow nation but lightning struck it Shattered it into the trails of our political rush Sweat and tears and blood in Absurd abundance And crazed we smelt the odour of betrayal. We only know that freedom sang in us Everything. We went into exile in search of a new life Clinging to our hope, hungry for freedom We'd had enough discrimination and suffering To last a lifetime And so we believed with all our hearts That if we fought we would all become masters In a classless society. Patriots were thus born On battle fronts and in camps. We also believed we were Turning life into revolution And creating the first semblance of nationhood We never gave up the dream of returning home Dreamed so hard that even in dungeons and prisons we Never stopped talking to ourselves Nothing. We geared the liberation struggle and locked all Together into concentration camps. There was no escape We gathered many people incapable of free survival, insulated From the grim reality, each person in himself helpless The comradeship was closed and we laboured To make a getaway, into the national image, into a new Dialogue with ourselves and our brethren at home Many, thus, gained fame In the way of great corruptors Retiring to the African Union To cultivate grand corrupt-schemes In the name of freedom, the people and nationhood Their continuing praises make them our liberators Whose many words are believed By the many who have not one. Everything. A struggle less recognizable each year In a pattern called war We too were a rare Pattern. As we wandered down The freedom paths. Nothing. Behind the waving flag Is a letter we hid It was brought to you on Independence Day By a courier from exile Comrade, we regret to inform you that Your father, mother, daughter, son, relative Died in action. Our exile was an eager meaninglessness We knew it had to come to an end But it was the liberation struggle And you weren't there