Like Sands through the hourglass
So is our life beneath the dunes
A Marikana on our back, mining the crown jewel
Digging for the fountain of youth
In an old future
A hundred pre-colonial moons ago
Our wrinkles, bullied by nooses
Foretold a time where freedom would be absolute
Too far from home, some pledged honour to the water
They bellow exile and echo reparations
Washing their cries to the shore, reminding
The carriers of their incomplete mission
That all is not lost and not finished
Old Gods used spears and shields before guns and tanks
New Gods use satellites, mind control, debts and Instagram
New media feeding us fleeting riches, drama & scandal
Limbo has never been this glamorous
Like sands through the fall of man
So are the lucifers of our long nights
Pondering the meaning of living right
Versus a life of crime or giving in to suicide
Anything to numb these eyes
That trade the sore sight of police fans
For the love at first fear of loan sharks
To the tables we hide under it’s no different
Same paralysis clothed in different skin
I still fit the quota and description
Of less than, a sacrifice to uplift them
Who trample, open carcass, and dig in
The black holes who gobble black souls
Glimmer in the hellfire of their champagne laughter
Like sands, I need a broken hourglass
Buried beneath the dunes of my afterlife
My eternal days and nights, just this once
Should be a vacation on galaxies out of sight.
Born June 1st, 1995, Malibongwe Sicelo Cedric Dladla, affectionately known as K.I.N.G. Cedric, is a Poet, Content, and Column Writer from Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, who specializes in Music and Humanities subjects. Malibongwe’s qualifications include a Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology and Sociology) Degree from The University of KwaZulu-Natal and a Fundamentals of Digital Marketing Certificate with Google Skills for Africa.
From the tender age of 13, his 13-year written and performance poetry tenure has placed K.I.N.G. Cedric on platforms such as the Pietermaritzburg Poetry Festival, Cup ‘O Thought, Tree of Poetry, C.S.P. Poetry Slams (Durban Edition), U.K.Z.N. (Howard and Pietermaritzburg Colleges), The Backyard Arts Session, The Live Experience in association with 95 Photography and most recently, Bloom SA (Launch Event). His writing has been published on CULTURE Review Magazine, Colorbloc Magazine Texx, and The City and Poetry Potion.