What will I do without him
who used come to the door
and ask me to play with snowballs
In the sun?
Go out and play with
snowballs of my own?
No fun!
What will I do without him
who used to tap at the window
and bring me the dark sky
Shattered with dawn?
Close warm sheltered inside
Will I watch the night
Go on?
No! I'll run to the streets and the highways;
I'll shout to the closed-in ears;
into the wind that buries the sound of my voice
I'll whisper when footsteps come near
There's someone living
In here!
(A nod to Athol Fugard's "People Are Living There")
Athol Fugard is a leading voice in theater of Africa
will he condone silence about the street execution f George Floyd?
Dennis Brutus was being deported from USA in 1980s, from U. Penn
(I helped get him to speak against South Africa's Racist Constitution,
at Ohio University in 1984. I confess, with Libyan money as donation!)
Would the late Dennis Brutus be quiet about fascist cop Derek Chauvin?
I grew up under apartheid, deemed inferior to every white-skinned African
Not allowed to go or study where I wanted in South Africa
And loved to hear Steve Biko, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King
Would they have been silent about "BLACK LIVES" don't matter?
Why do you write?
Are you really in the tradition of free expression, and poetry for ALL?