Treeless forests.
Lone reflections in bowed heads,
Hunched shoulders and blur-steamed eyes.
Scenes reeking of gaslit charcoal
Remnants of their burning hearts.
Smoke emitting above their minds
Ego and love’s corpses lifeless on palms.
Polluted beliefs of effort and only breathing air…
An ammunition skipping body to target soul,
Finding out a nuclear dropped on pledged
chivalry allegiance.
A war waged with worldviews and values.
Five W’s become a looped mirror,
Unblurring sight to an empty chest.
Where an evergreen romance cleansed the air,
A burial site for hearts blossoms.
Boys after the war,
Wood and carpentry masters.
Pleasure seekers and emotional casket carriers.
Whoever seeks warmth in them finds for their heart a coffin.
Values guiding manhood in love, uprooted.
Treeless forests.
Boys after the war waged when purity of love was willed well service,
Will to not woe, but woe.
TheGiftGivenForExcellence, South African Self-published Author, Poet, Performer and TED X Speaker, Accolade Motha is an aspiring master of all trades, beginning with the art of speaking to the human soul. He achieves this through his writing style and performance sequences which touch on topics of healing from trauma, growth, romance, having a positive mindset and overall life optimism. He’s the author of two books, namely “Monate Mpolaye, co-authored (2020)”, & self-published “Drawing Deep Breaths Poems: From A Successful (2021)”. Having worked with international and South African organisations in the literary space including Hear My Voice, World of Words, Pick Me Up Poetry, NLSA, TEDxPretoria, the SABC and recently Dinelwane Poetry Nights as Poet of the month to name a few, Accolade continues to captivate audiences with his provocative, engaging and interactive writing/performances.