I landed on your doorstep
Shaky and thin
I didn’t look like your others
But that didn’t matter
You said I’d always have home here
With you
You didn’t mind my strange scent
And the funny way I spoke
That I brought with me my own ways
And was adamant that they stayed
You hated the way they treated me
And your other kids too
You hated the way they looked at me like I wasn’t yours
They tried to split us up
Make me a buffer to my brothers
They spewed hate on us
And I’m really sorry Mama
Coz sometimes it worked
But they didn’t know that I’d long found
My Mother, here with you
You were proudest of us
When all yours came together
My brothers and sisters
Fighting for their Mother
My difference still mattered
But the love of you
Triumphed forever
I do sometimes think
Of the Mother I left behind
The one I’ve never met
Still covered in her skin
She continues to live in me
And even though I’ve longed
For her touch
Its yours I always find
Look at us now Mama
I walk on by and no one
Even blinks and eye
I am yours and its known
This is my home
Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika.
this poem appears in our print quarterly number eight, Dear South Africa.
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