the heart is deceived above all things
and desperately naïve.
who can trust it?
but my heart, a muscle exercised more rigorously
than my calves, has never lost a tug of war
– so it definitely wouldn’t be pulled in by the brain
no! Heart was Queen of this
5ft kingdom of flesh & blood
and come hell or high waters
her majesty will not cede the throne
so hell came. fire and brimstone erected
in the image of you.
logic recalled childhood omens
of playing with fire
but Heart… she convinced me that
i was not meant to burn
no! not ice-cold meeee?
and so my heart’s flickering flame dared
to dance with your wildfire
a tango with death
and like moth to flame;
like dust to dust, to ash i returned
in the flame of your altar, a burnt offering
just a tally in your books
not realising that laying
my heart at your feet – an offering –
could never make a better man of you
– only a taller boy
and in this tragedy worthy of Shakespear’s ink
you play with this Queen of Hearts
and i realise
that the joker isn’t the only fool
who’ll do anything for you
Sibongile is a student at Stellenbosch University; she recently picked up the pen and is finding her voice and her style. She’s still sussing out whether she actually writes with the left hand or the right; if she writes from left to right, or the right way, and whether or not she really likes using lowercase letters & minimal punctuation… but what is certain is that she prefers cursive – and she writes like a doctor!