Scars

These scars
Are tales written in pain
Lyrics of a dark gloomy pursuit
A fruitless pursuit for happiness

They tell of the ups and downs
Of the joys and tears

These scars
are a history
A story of infinite pursuits
A story of this person

They tell of the dreams and nightmares
of the successes and failures

And like a shadow
They live to eternity
Branded on this soul

Doomed

In my darkest hour
When nothing matters
I hope I live
For something bigger
For something worth dying for
I hope I live
Beyond yesterday and tomorrow
Beyond today
I hope I live
In the hearts and minds of time
In the hearts and minds I cherished
I hope I live
On the never ending cusp of time
On the edge of endlessness

Or am I doomed?

Ode to a Chameleon

Old lizard

Though you change a million times

Your are the truest of them all

They have known your form

They have seen your colours

But no one knows for sure

If you are green, brown or another 

Yet no one sleeps with an eye open 

Hoping to catch you in your menace 

They know they will never round-up 

Your infinite colors 

You are a breath of change 

You are nature's kaleidoscope

They can never tell your color 

Though you have never failed 

To rise from within a burst of color

And amuse the eyes of the beholder 

They love your colors

Oh mirror of your environment 

They love their colors 

Though they deny

They are ever changing

Just like you

They love your colors 

They love their colors

Chimurenga

Chimurenga

Are you awake?

Is this another rise?

Did you not deliver the other day?

What about the land?

You want to give it back?

Is this another Chimurenga?

Who are these pale hands?

Holding placards that seeks to undo

Chimurenga

Liberate Nyika ye Zimbabwe

These pale hands too?

Don't be a fool

Enemies are not friends 

Don't let them bask in your sunlight 

They blind you with crocodile smile

They want your land back

Chimurenga

Wake up

Don't sleep on your freedom

Don't sleep on your land

they want it 

Chimurenga

What about the lessons?

The leadership?

Was it a mistake?

Should we all go back?

Back to bondage?

Chimurenga 

Don't sleep on your victory 

 

Captured

Your worse captured me
Imagine your best
I shiver when i contemplate
That a damascus moment will unleash tomorrow
and it will not longer be accidental
But a moment in a lifetime

Prisoner

Lock me in the prison of your heart
I am a blowing wind at dawn
Stuck in the mute pursuit for happiness
Chasing after never ending shadows of bliss
Only these words can tell
Only these lines
The ups and downs
The highs and lows
In this valley called life
Nothing matters but a blissfull end
And if it be in the prison of your heart
I am content
For nothing else can ease the pain
and the hunger for affection
Nothing can heal the memories
of a childhood stuck in solitude
In a world that breathes in my head
Inside the innocent whiteness of my brains
Take me in I am your prisoner

We are nothing

I worry that one day
These dreams will come true
I fear that we will not be ready
To be gods
We are born of greatness
I fear that one day we find
We are the moon and the sun
The rising stars of the night
And the cool breeze at dawn
We are the elements
We are everything we aspire to be
We are everything we like
We are everything we hate
We are everything we love

We are nothing

Infinity

Bent
Never broken
Through the dark night
Through the gloomy winter day
You remain
A deafening silence
That gives birth to never ending love
Though it withers
Like rusty winter grass
It finds courage in spring
And rise with glowing summers

A silence that gives  birth
to Infinity

Its Tumi, she killed herself

Did she say good bye? they ask
A dark cloud looms
Vivid pictures of a body ravaged by rat poison
Fleece infested
Nobody knew until the lock was cut
Now the whole skwatta camp is staring down
Down her lonesome body
She is history

Picture a future with withering memories
Confused thoughts, heads rolling in disblief
Linda is no more
Kiss friendship good bye
Wondering if there is life after this
After the her body is rolled into a van
After the last spectator walks away

Knock knock
Who is that?
Linda
Linda? Linda is no more?
Is it a ghost?
Or is this head playing games
Or are we all in heaven now

Death be not proud
Couldn't get Linda but got Tumi
She was gone but not for good
Found her way home
Only to find a shack full of people
Mourning her death

Its not her they rolled
She is still full of life
Its Tumi
She killed herself
Some blame the streets
Some blame the late night street walking
Some blame Nigeria
But everyone knew Tumi
She was black

To all those who died in my arms

Sometimes i crave immortality
At the thought of ghastly pains
And anguish visited upon you
Not with a heart full of bitterness
Not with arms of vengeance
But with a promise of better days
A tomorrow that will outshine today
Just as summer days outshine our winters
Seekers of comfort
Of company
Of love
Of something greater
These arms have betrayed you
Not love
Not comfort
Not protection
Only memories of pain untold
Hence i crave a never ending breath
For fear of your haunting eyes
When St Peter calls.

Africa is a country

The world was not ready for Africa
Nkrumah lead and light shone
But Lumumba died and so did the African dream
Gadaffi languished in prison
Mourning the murder of Lumumba
But he is dead now butchered
Sobukwe saw the light
Zimbabwe leads but no one follows
But Africa is still captured
Endless mass graves
Poverty factories run non-stop
Africa destitute
Gold, Diamonds, Oil
What a curse
Gold in Johannesburg
Miners died in Marikana
Kimberly diamonds
But there is no diamond in Kimberly now
Is Botswana brimming with wealth?
Nigeria oil is flowing
But Nigeria suffers in vain
Too many enemies
Much haters than lovers
But how can Africa be free?
When the minds remain the same
Who created kings to manage people?
Who created villages?
Who created provinces?
Who created countries?
Africa is a country

Kabelo Fani

Nameless
Whats' a name on a shoe?
Dont cry for a black child
Skull cracked open
Do you rest in peace?
Neck broken
For a bunch of sunflowers
12 years too much of a life
Stuck in black misery
They say poverty is a choice
But van Riebeeck didn't find it here
Neither in Coligny
What is this about?
Murderers, murdered even his name
Go on tell lies
He jumped to his death
His name is Faki Mosweu
He is every black child
That dies for being black
Living in black conditions
That black people never knew until Riebeeck.
Let Coligny burn for his restless soul.

Its over (April came)

You, you said to be strong
Against all odds keep rising
And these words, in our winter
Lit our paths summer bright

So, so it hurts to see you fold
High, higher just to hit rock bottom
Sink, sink into depth of untold despair

Its a nightmare
I wish we woke up before it started
Find a place where hearts aren't shattered
And the green bottle is nothing but water

Sit under a tree, tell tales
Like we did when dusty villages brimmed with life
And the Land didn't seem stolen

Now we know the truth
And words cant keep us going
We are nothing

Through the hunger
Through the struggle
High but I see your pain

Hope is lost anyway
Gone with the past

April came
Its over

Anxiety

Anxiety my old friend
Here we are again
Locked in each other's shadows

I was not a man until i killed you
You are the man
You refused to die

Dragging me into dark corners of seclusion
I am not screaming
You are a ghost

Didn't you go to the east?
Or the west?
Why are you here again?

Why am i walking?
Walking in your path
Comforted by your shadows

Anxiety my old friend
I wish nothing but death for you
Hopefully i don't die with you

King

(For Alek)

Dark as a night 

A splendor of beauty unknown 

The world could not fathom 

The depth of your beauty 

You are hope for the hopeless

A shining diamond 

That long conquered the rough 

And when you shine

Africa rises from ashes of shame 

And walk tall in the vigor of her beauty 

You turned the tables 

And tore apart the white masks 

That long made little of our beauty 

Of the richness of our fullness 

Even in the darkest of night 

No one will ever forget 

That when Africa was called a night 

You came, Shined bright like a diamond 

And led Africa to her majestic rise 

A rise of beauty 

Of pride in who she is 

A rise of confidence 

In her God given beauty 

When she shines 

Through black beautiful roses of Africa 

Its you that shines 

A beauty 

That long defeated perception

Walk tall, you are a King

Vhusiku

Vhusiku ndi mini?

Ndi gole litswu?

Kana ndi u pfuvha ha tshedza?

Kani Vhusiku ndi vhathu?

Vhane vha vuwa vha songo vuwa

Swiswi bodobodo!

Ndi hone vhusiku?

Izwi asi gole la mvula?

Tshinainai asi tshi laa!

Izwi asi nemeneme?

Kani ndi hone vhusiku?

Vhusiku ha gole litswu 

Fobvu li ri tangulaho tshedza

Hone vhusiku ndi mini?
Izwi tshedza asi gundo?
Line u vhonala vhusiku ha tanula zwirethe

U funa vhusiku ndi mini?
Vhusiku ndi lendwo lusina vhuyo
A vhuambiwi vhua pfuvha

Sa mapfuvhi tshilimo vhua pfuvha
Vha dzia tshimbevha vha sala vho thowa
Ngau tshedza ndi gundo 

War

Landlessness
 Poverty
Diseases
Dispossesion
What more?

 Does it help if we kneel?
Or speak in tongues in our prayers?
Or is there a black god listening?
Or are they all white?
Should we break down to tears?
Do tears wash away our landlessness?
Does it make angels of our scars?
Should we be marching in protest?
Should we bear arms?
Is it time for a war?
When blood flows
Does it return our land?
Does it take decades of poverty away?
Through blood this land was lost
What will it take to get it back?
Or are we just boys holding on to hope?
I want to go home
I want to go to my own land
I want to walk away
 From this bleak blackness
Landlessness
Poverty
Diseases
Dispossesion
What more can i take?

Take me home to my people
Their pain is mine
 Their Shacks are mine
Their Unemployment is mine
Their AIDS is mine
Their Death is mine
Their Blackness is mine
Are these not their gods?
Who never fail to show up unsummoned
My people, my people
Your gods answers without fail
Who gave you these gods?

How did you survive millions of years
 Far from this madness?
From the whickedness i see?
From Landlessness
From Poverty
From Diseases
From Dispossesion
Go home
Tell them you are home
Tell them the nightmare is over
Toitoing did not help
Talking didn’t help
Rainbow nation was a farce, its over
Tell them you will talk no more
You are home to your land
 Its a war.

Running

How can i keep running?
From this and that, love and hate
Things i once held dear
Is it a race?
Do i ever win?

 Do i rise like the sun?
And set in the midst of storms
Or is it just a long trail?
Of things that never happened?
Catch me if you can

How can i run again?
When these shadows are ahead of me
Do i stop and breath again?
Is the life for the dead?
even though they live?

Running is a thief
Running is murder
How can you run away from love?
From the sweet and dear
Running is hell

I am tired

Boken promises

No more broken promises
Yesterday demons are vanquished
The sun doesn't shine any more
No one cares

Eyes searching for a rain
Dry trails of tears cried
Can not be washed with verses
Maybe summer showers

knowing there is no heart
Only pieces hanging
Against ghastly winds, memories
A history of perishing souls

There is no heaven
Only hell
Made up of broken promises
Another smoke screen life

When do we wake up
Walk into our own
Find peace that lives
Eternally in our hearts

Don't tell the tale
I hate to tell

Rose II

She read it like no other
A verse about murder
Glad she was still living
Not knowing that it comes
Like a thief at dawn
Every word she read
Was a contract to her future

She lived
She loved

She loved dearly
She loved blindly
And loved to death

And as they say:
Love was the motive for murder
(written along R56 on the way from VaalPark)

Muthu

Muthu nne athi mu divhi
Muthu o vhonwa nga nnyi
U a dzumba mavhala sa luavivi
Nda ri ndi a mu divha ndi mudivhela fhi?
Nne athina mushumo na muthu
Na tshiendangolo ndi pfene
U enda ngolo asi vhusiwana
A li shanduki kholomo
Zwino nne ndi felani

Capital

Slavery is gone
The church is corrupt
You have lost your god-given tight grip on people

People talking
East to West, South to North
I see you sneaking in

Unsatisfied
With ruining our lives
Capturing us through useless media

Prostituting our minds with lies
It couldn't work
Now i see you sneaking in

Tired of sending messengers
I see your right hand on your chest
Forked tongue under oath

You are not a politician
No need for politics
You are capital taking over

Tired of sending instructions
Now you are executing
A gory future awaits all of us

(On the occasion of Capital being sworn into the presidency of the United States of America)

Cry the beloved country

Cry the beloved country
These things are not yet an end
The sun pours down on earth
On the lovely land that man cannot enjoy
He knows only the fear in his heart

Cry for the broken tribe
For the law
And the custom that is gone

Cry the beloved country
For the unborn child
That is the inheritor of our fear
Let him not love the earth too deeply
Let him not laugh too gladly
When the water runs through his fingers
Nor stand too silent
When the setting sun makes red the veld with fire
Let him not be too moved
When birds of his land are singing
Nor give too much of his heart
To a mountain or a valley
For fear will rob him all

Cry the beloved country

(Arranged by dzumbu from words written by Allan Paton in 'Cry the beloved country')