Tokotoko on the wall
Don’t you fall
Frozen hot
Burning Island of Desire
Amber still
I’m head over high heels
Mophead
You make my head go haywire
Two hearts beating as one
Divided by politicians
And an impregnable Berlin Wall
Burning heat waves of hatred
Beating against the pier
True love is a never ending fire
Everywhere
Voices of protestation
‘Why go for an Aborigin
Like yourself
When exotic Caucasian girls
Are belly-dancing and calling?’
Vigilantes on my bleeding wall
Bouncing a homeboy
Like a tennis ball
Thambo lenyoka lihlab’ elim’zondayo
No
Not with my Tusi
Not with my Tala
I was nobody when I found her
And when she found me
Responsibility became maturity
Rule of thumb against the majority
Mina naye siyofa s’lahlane
Translations
*Tokotoko: A hand-carved traditional Maori walking stick and symbol of authority
**Thambo lenyoka lihlab’ elim’zondayo: Nguni saying meaning, ‘A snake’s bone pricks or pierces whoever it hates’
***Mina naye siyofa s’lahlane: Nguni saying meaning, ‘Till death do us part’
Mbongeni Khumalo: Author of poetry collection apocrypha