On Being Human by Glodina

From that first moment when two cells collide,
When body, soul and spirit find their way to each other,
When from more than a homeostatic collection of DNA, organs and systems we spring forth,
When Humanity peers through it’s foggy, fragile veil of mortality …
We start our journey of Being Human,

As with any plant or animal – the seed lies protected – the young reliant,
Totally dependent they find protection, find protection – most times,
With time being human means to know that in our seat of emotion called the tempestuous and fickle soul,
Basic needs once satisfied are displaced by an equally gnawing need,
Seeking acceptance, warmth of touch to feed the soul,

So begins self-awareness, perceptions of who you are – identities ingrained
So the baggage of paradigms defined by past experience become unearthed – sometimes even find a name,
Values and eye-wide hopes peer through the cracks,
As we learn to live through plenty and cope when we lack
So more than survival we revel in life – the good and the bad

Unlike nature who march to a beating drum – we human beings indifferent to time are more guided by expressive creativity,
Evoking joy and gratification in whatever we aspire to do,
Being Human means to question, interpret and find expression in seeing and perceiving with eyes all our own,
Though different for each of us – it echoes good and evil and mirrors the beauty and the ugly… entwined in our souls

But Being Human is equally about the spirit – that strives to be something better and higher than ourselves
A sense of Interconnectedness – universal awareness – holding oneself accountable to be more humane – A higher state of freedom to attain
And in death as our bodies twice removed from soul and spirit,
It will be the remembrance by others that makes us truly human –
Animals forget , rocks erode to less than what came before —
But the lives that we touched are richer by the love we had shown,

Our fragile capacity to live and bring joy can be matched by our capability to inflict pain and destroy…
But being human boils down to the choices we make
The choice to love or to hate – the choice to forgive and inspire the same in others
The choice to live each day in its fullness Or drum out a drug infested haze of an existence

Glodina’s background in science and technology is a far cry from the normal scholastically trained poets and painters. However, she dappled in writing since childhood and fell in love with artistic expression. She is now an avid painter and poet – having just won a local competition for 16 days of Activism Against Gender Violence . She now resides in the Eastern Cape but grew up on the Cape Flats. Past experiences are deep rooted in her poems and paintings as well as for the search for beauty even in the ugly… as this poem can attest to.