Get Your Premium Membership

Best Poems Written by Sizwe Hlabisa

Below are the all-time best Sizwe Hlabisa poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

View ALL Sizwe Hlabisa Poems

123
Details | Sizwe Hlabisa Poem

Cry Mama, Cry

Cry Mama! Cry! 

Let your tears clense this barren land.
Let them wash the depravity envaded

Taste the honey and see  the blood full of  sorrow. 
Painting there, a masterpiece of an apocalypse

'Clink, clank' went the sound and the orchestra pitch 
was the screaming of their  slaughtered daughters.
A symphony orchestrated by greed

They, all the spectators, listen to their amusement 
Like a carousel, there was no ending to this music

Love was a scar bore by many soldiers 
as a tale of their foolish days
A journey imposed by the old world 

Please Mama, your tears are needed
Cry, clear away the segmented  pathways and free your children 

Let your river flow, 
Cry for us salvation 

Raise up your faces please and see this beauty, 
the hope of hoping,
the faith of healing,
A new paradise luscious in its virtue 

And now, 
        Now mama, 
the only symphony is the chorus of  the hummingbirds, 
the pitch of the gurgling streams, 
       Amen

Tears of hope, a new beginning, the tender shoots of possibility.

Now i see morning from noon, clear skies once more 

and to this I greet you with many tender kisses...


Good morning

Copyright © Sizwe Hlabisa | Year Posted 2015



Details | Sizwe Hlabisa Poem

The Bridges That Are Life

I've heard them tell me 
that life is a gift ,given
I've even heard them say 
life is a journey 
Chartered upon many mountains, 
delighting to be traversed 
What say you, damsel lady!

I know life to be bushy thorns
That every road I have travelled
 has been dusty, 
rocky with the sight of potholes
 at every turn. 
The dust greeting me, 
long-lost companions 
What say they, damsel lady!

 I know life for what it is
A destination of endless walks 
I know life never cared about me!
The sun peaked and it went 
back to sleep
Never did the sun relieve me 
on this journey 
What say You, damsel lady!

The choice was never mine
Simply I was put on this path 
and pointed forward 
They told me what was north 
and I was to learn south 
and its opposing friends 
They told me life was a journey, 
but all I have known is pain.
Was pain the journey? 
Were my worn-out shoes 
the lesson I had to learn?
What say I, damsel lady!

I say, I have traversed 
the bridges that are my life
What is journey? 
Moving forward or 
travelling backwards? 
Must I even keep pacing 
when day and night have no meaning to me. 
What is walking if it invites the pain of pleasure

I say, damsel lady. I know life!
Life is no friend of mine.
This journey I have travelled, 
I am still walking. 
Where is the gift in that?
 My patience is worn through 
and my sandals are dust. 
Even these tears desert me 
for the better companionship of dust.
Loneliness is my only companion,
YES, 
maybe that is LIFE!

Copyright © Sizwe Hlabisa | Year Posted 2016

Details | Sizwe Hlabisa Poem

Saluting King and His New World Order

Pulse facing, sweat racing
Light deafening sounds blinding
World’s waiting, stage blazing
Times nerving, ticking
All of this to Salute a King

Floors pouring, people raining
Eagerly participating, 
Constantly deliberating
Righteously anticipating
A new world order brought about by their Master

Finally, no more violence
Brought about by tender silence
The only nature of its science
Was fearing unrestricted defiance
Saluting King and Kingdom alliance

Yellow majesty and glory
Was witnessing this sacred story
‘See and reap in my Kingdom’ say He
With certainty, destiny foreseen
Praising their Lord and the freedom to be

Eyes listening, ears watching
Feet whistling, fingers shuffling
Sky groaning, thistles moaning
History’s waiting, future’s debating
Hail the King and our new world order

A spurned kiss, a tender brow
Were actions thought to be allowed.
Optimism of this golden Crown
Was the only sober thought that ushered the crowd
As beast and men all salute the King

Copyright © Sizwe Hlabisa | Year Posted 2014

Details | Sizwe Hlabisa Poem

Azalea of My Heart

What can be fairer and just then, 
the beauty of your plush pink skin.
In the moonlight, your beauty glimers in pink 
as does the moon, 
over the tripping waves of the peaceful sea.
In sunlight, the light catches your skin 
and flirts with my eyes, 
as does the dew in the sunken meadows, 
with the first kisses of the dawn 

Now how do I describe your endless beauty!
It is innumerable as the petals that share your name 
My heart bleeds for your love 
as your veins pump the finest milk, 
that radiates your beauty. 
In all the splendor and glory of Queen Cleopatra, 
were she to bath in your milk, 
she would be immortally present.

Your fully thick and impermeable lips 
plague my dreams 
as my eternal spring of youth. 
Your hair, the only breeze that soothes my delicate skin.

As seasonal as this love may seem, 
it does endure the scorch of heat 
and glacier of frost.
Oh! To rest upon your golden chalice.

No, this  cannot be lust. I am certain.
This must be  love, even if it feels inclined.
There is no other light but the bright 
piercings of your smile upon my heart. 
Your laughter is the sweet smell of the exotic gardens of Budapest, 
the nectar of my own ears.

See how your petals have bloomed, 
the light hits your petals like snowflakes.

Copyright © Sizwe Hlabisa | Year Posted 2016

Details | Sizwe Hlabisa Poem

Love, Unknown Odyssey

Love burns deep in this ember where jewels are a mere reflection upon the stars
Mere mortals as we live but with this love we divide even the infinite

Options are of dull few words 
For who can will or wield such power that no being can comprehend

This deed is foreign to our analogy and inconspicuous to the logical
Defying even the strongest will of man such as that of survival

What is this that consumes me, 
Infuses in me the traits of a stranger
Who is this stranger deep within my members


How does one rid this atomical abomination to my design
If words fail me and logic desists within me how can i mold this clay into a pot

The days are still, peace is wraught
Certainty has becomne an illusion of permanance, a dimension not found but seen

These days to try and live wreaks hardship at the gate
Will i rid myself this burden, even in death?
Can this load be no more?

Copyright © Sizwe Hlabisa | Year Posted 2013



Details | Sizwe Hlabisa Poem

Perpetually Lost

Of the many roads that I have taken
the many words which I have forsaken 
Never could my passion bring 
The lonely heart from which my cistern drinks

Gloom, the comfort of my tears
Tears, the instrument of my fears
Fear, the ransom paid of daring to dream 
Dreams, the reward for all my gloomy ideals 

Come! Feel the bronzie-blood upon my sleeves 
Tilting Forcibly in  that brazen breeze
Groaning for you to release thee
Begging in silence, pleading  devotee....

          Floating,
                     Hoping, 
                                  Wandering, 
                                               Despairing 


                                                 ,Fearing
                                     ,Soothing
                          ,Exhaling
            , Calming ...


Once again, once, .... again
What more can I attain
Must I dare to say
Drifting, 
                slowly, 
                             dis-mem-ber-ed  prey


Date : 4 Feb 2016 ( Inspired by Beethovens Moonlight Sonata )

Copyright © Sizwe Hlabisa | Year Posted 2016

Details | Sizwe Hlabisa Poem

Uncertainty of Heart

Fiery Temptress and pure  daughter of desire 
Do not invoke within me a deep well of unearned lust
Is it love that you've unearthed
Show me your roots, roots, roots 
that i may know from which cistern you quench your thirst 

Sure as i am of the power of a spade, 
tossed about  loosely as a thing of no concern.
But the love of being hated warmed my heart and froze my sleepless days 


Do you dream much? 
Flirting fancies stream and indulge you.
For me however , mosaics of a familiar 
Forcibly Impressed upon me  .


I, 
I was,
Deceived by those stuttering eyes, 
Your voice  teasing my ears, inflaming my senses. But still i hunger  for you.

You,  
you, Oh!
You could be suffocating me passionately.
Being lead, 
Lead by the blind, 
willfully 'Staggering to the slaughter'.

No wind can loosen the autumn leaves unless the trees allowed it.
With fire a rage can ravage the plains and yet there's no life without it 
What you have stirred within may be uncertainty.
Whatever this may be and whomever i should be, let it be.

Copyright © Sizwe Hlabisa | Year Posted 2015

Details | Sizwe Hlabisa Poem

I Am Determined To Be Heard

I'm determined to be heard
Through the walls 
Beyond all That 
Deafening windfall

My voice never deterred
Tasking freedom 
dispensing wisdom 
Offering up hope

I am the force, overheard  
A solid speaker for the mute
Constant presence for the Word

I shall reverberate the hurt
You will feel the guilt 
In your lofty trenches 
A silent struggle of Gods

I just want the world to listen
Bear this burden of poverty
Not just the myth
Or a romanticised notion
Or speeches of false devotion

Those ears, such words 


Can you follow my story?
Can you see THE dream?
Every burden in the streets 
Is a vision to adopt


Can you whisper to self?
Feed the world ecstacy?
Have you seen the fatherless  daughter
And the beggars  integrity
Are you still holding fast
Your beloved emnity
Can't you see? We're all born of blood
So how are we enemies 
The agenda of life can be a legacy
For the seeds of the sun 
to bare indefinately, 
Possesively 

I speak for those who have the words
But whose voice lingers inside
A voice of conscience 
Inexpressed by fear
But indecisively sincere

I shout out for the injustice 
The ignorance of present
Failure to recognise
What seperates and divides
Us 

The tongue of my father and
Lips of my mother 
are tools of my aid
The rest i implore through 
UBUNTU

THEN I am here 
to champion for change
Of what little remains
Rewriting societies wrongs
Frustrating from their selfishness 
Unable to recognise 
their brilliance

Look at the world different
Perspective changed in judgment
Flipping the script
On values

I'm determined to be heard 
I will not be detered
Tears of the gutter
I am their voice
Eternally 

I'm  determined to be heard
So I'll preach the gospel

Maybe You want me to quote the bible
Those psalms and chapters
Do you know John the Baptist 
Or better yet, OUR greatest Teacher
Who preached what he practiced 
Making salvation attractive
Enriching the poorest 
With the greatest riches
Not just the basic 
Like forgiving their 
taxes


Silence though is the greatest
It is the strongest words
It resist dissension 
Transversing chaotic directions
In a tone, golden
Not yet broken 
So long as we focus
On PEACE

Feeding the needy
Sweeping the streets
Is no major feet
Lets be more responsible
And less ignorant
On our position

Black, colour and white
Is just a metaphor of bias 
A reason to praise our wrongs
Why we cannot get along

I'm determined, highly agitated
To speak the truths we silence
 in our children

I'm determined, to be the whisperer 
Inviting change in the season
Of societies progression 

Listen to me, just listen.

I'm determined to make you see
Yes, I'm determined to be heard

Copyright © Sizwe Hlabisa | Year Posted 2016

Details | Sizwe Hlabisa Poem

Onwards Men,Victory

Onwards men 
Let us succumb 

Like a lion with its pride  
We shall certainly play our prey 

Off we March
Into the fray 

Hold your rifles to your heart 
Squeeze and muzzle out your fears 


Hold the line
Let's reunite 

Release the gas of integrity 
Let our quarry   bleed in peace 

Out from no-mans land to the Isle of doom
The Pen will prevail us lasting victory 


Onwards men
Let us succumb 

Such are swarm of locusta
We'll devour to all ends 

Down we go
Cradle your Spears 

Invoke the senses of your being
Crush, destroy no confessing defeat

Out beyond  the missiles range through the cordoned plane
We Hum a hymn, our salvations whistle 

Onwards men
Round up the troops

Sound the cymbal and it's tears
We shall taunt our ears with courage 

Drop those shields 
Vibrate your throats 

Far and wide we'll spread these tales
Historical legends they'll bathe in our eminence 

Far to the darkest dreads into the deepest trenches
We'll bare the boast and eternal throngs of peace

Copyright © Sizwe Hlabisa | Year Posted 2016

Details | Sizwe Hlabisa Poem

Flaming Phoenix

In amongst the burning trees 
Stood a creature still as breeze
In its eyes burned a fire 
Its contagion was its strange attire.

There about its godly perch
I lost all senses as it chirped
its vessel bore the marks of greed
Its beak inscribed a slave's decree

And when it suddenly spoke to me
My heart came empty, skipped a beat
For shock was not the words there spoken
But of its tone and raw emotion

There I listened to its pain
How man  had made it feel disgrace
Instead of healing or pain erase
Was forced to bid man's selfish gain

And as Lady Star drifted away
so to the phoenix burst into flames
Carnage in a cloud of ashes
Memories left were subtly passive

Was I to quiet my soul to sleep!
Pretend next lifetime explores peace
These thoughts left me in shock of dread
that all things living must grovel and beg.

Copyright © Sizwe Hlabisa | Year Posted 2014

123

Book: Reflection on the Important Things