what the world needs
and is yet to see –
is peace –
on your face
when you are asleep
love –
on your face
when you look at me
hope –
on your face when you ask
when daddy is coming home
forgiveness –
on your face when you realise
it’s just you and me
against a world
i brought you in to save
what the world needs –
what it has
tried to buy
and failed
what it has
killed to have
and has not
is you –
a fragile thing
yet to be born.
Nkateko Masinga is a poet and 2019 writer-in-residence at the Ebedi International Writers Residency.