Demons
Surround
Beg
To let them
Become
All that I am
pull
At my feet
Drag me along
With their hate
My hurt
So I can no longer turn
And see my past
Just my future
My nothing
For they know
What I have known
For too long
That this path
Was never mine alone,
To be reached
By a single soul
This path I desired
This uncommon path
May always remain hidden
Without a fellow traveller
An uncommon traveller
And my choice
Is to go insane
Trying to find it
Or die inside
To let the demons
Devour my soul
For the glimmer
Of the uncommon path
May be just too small
To see
May always have been
just the tail
Of the demons
Trailing behind
I am lost
MORNING DEPARTURE
Yellow glow in the east
And daisies spread their petals.
I too shrug off the darkness
Which all around me settles.
The white rays greet me
As I struggle with the load,
And harness up the horse
To ready us for our road.
He nods his head in the nosebag;
Daisies nod ‘neath the stile;
I have no fellow traveller
To nod with me a while.
Forget us not
(For the countless South Africans, black and white, who sacrificed their lives for democracy)
forget us not
fellow traveller in our just cause
‘aluta continua’ was our refrain
as we trudged in soggy marshes
malarial fevers lashing us in the summer rain
‘amandla’ we shouted
as we hurled stones at that heartless foe
facing their metallic beasts with our arrows and our bow
forget us not
fellow traveller in our just cause
‘aluta continua’ is our refrain still
‘amandla’ we shout today too
as the fight continues for
the many that yearn for a world less cruel, and more true
forget us not
fellow traveller in our just cause
though we have passed and in the earth we lie
remember us who fell and a tear or two for us in solemn moments do cry
forget us not
fellow traveller as you pick up our stones
forget us not
as you exhume our tattered rags and bones
forget us not
and do not our cherished ideals betray
forget us not
fellow traveller in our just cause
for we too still believe in that promise of a new day
forget us not.
The air is growing cold
and as I walk against the wind
I realize that man has not yet
conquered
the elements
Moving on, I see buildings,
tall trees, and a fellow traveller
on this solar boat
The sun beams down on
our blue home
Provides a little warmth
on this frigid afternoon
Then I arrive home
where a cup of hot tea
ends the effects
of winter
We must take sustenance
in what we have
and not succumb
to despair or excess vanity
For we did not make
this world
But we are allowed a
short stay here
Which we should make the most of
while we still can
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