Lays

Its getting dark, hold me
I am just a little child longing for your love
It was never a journey
But a hell full of hate
to live destitute even in abundance
tell me you love me
maybe love is stronger than pain
stronger than memories
of a bitter path walked in abeyance
can i wake up from this insomniac slumber
can you shake my present away?
and expose the lurking devil
the horrid past that haunts me
who will hold my hand in the end
or do i go empty handed?
Save my verses when nothing comforts me
and tell the tale to the passersby
The pen is heavier than pain
But its the only love i know
Hope it takes me home when no one remains

The Sands of Times

Can you tell me what this is all about?
Where are the sands of times
So that also I can leave my footprints
I have walked
The scars and the pain bare testament
But what is it all about?
When the good die young?
and the best is not enough
When the sunsets
and the streets disappear behind us
and neon lights ambush the night
Where is my star to crown the night
And shine in the dark
When i am no more
and history doesn't have my name
Will there be a God to tell
how we got here
how we ended up here
some crawling under bridges
some climbing their McLarens
Do we choose
or are we chosen?
Whats the point anyway?

Broken Promises

Landlessness

Joblessness

Homelessness

Living in a world of broken promises

wrapt in a rainbow illusion

Count the tears 

count the nights spent under bridges

and days braved in hunger

Dreams don't come true

in time they wash away

until we dream some more 

The hunger continues

stuck in traffic lights hoping for a meal

but the homelessness continues 

birds of the skies have nests to call home

blue eyed hyenas have holes to call home

but what of a black child?

her hunger is centuries old

her homelessness is infinite

she is landless

Mbudziso

Mbudziso na dzone a dzi fheli
a dzi d̪ivhi lufu
ndi d̪i ndi d̪o pfa muludzi
u tshi lila muvhulani
hone zwothe zwe ndi bva vhubvo
mud̪ivhi wa zwo ndi nnyi?
na kani tshifhinga ndi wone mudengu?
u ne wa dengula vhuṱunga na zwiṱhavhi

nne athi tshe na tshanga
ḽa matshelo ndi mini?
arali miḽoro ya madekwe isa tsha wedza
ho tou sala ngelekanyo dza musala uḽa
musi Phiphid̪i ḽi tshe ḽo lala

nahone mupfumi ndi nnyi?
we aya a vha bindu khae
Tshandau na wa pfuma zwa ita ni?
dzashu mbilu dzo pangulwa
ho sala muṱodzi muni?

nne a thi tsha amba, u amba ndi u pfa nungo
ḽa swifhala mbado u khad̪i i farelani
hufha lu lwendo?
na ḽashu d̪uvha, lo sema mano
ḽia d̪a sa mbava, i sa d̪ivhwi
hone mbudziso ndi mini?
ngauri itsho ndi itsho

Kani vhuṱungu ndi vhadzi?
ḽine ḽa ṱahadzwa nga tshifhinga
Mbudziso dza fhela

20th April

Its an Exodus
The plush green valleys
The rich red soil you walked on
The rivers that cut through your slums
The fiery bright sun
That braved your mornings in summers
The pitch dark night
That rushed to capture you winter days
The song of birds
Hummed in the beauty of skies above
The noise around
of this and that
things of this world
All that
You shall see no more
You shall hear no more
For the journey continues
And what you saw, shall see no more

As you journey into the unknown Silence
Your memory shall live on
in the blood that flows
in generations to come
in the bitterness of the hearts that remain
in the joys of of those who received you

The rivers you crossed
The mountains you climbed
The pits you fell into
All shall tell a tale

A tale of humility
A tale of emptiness
A tale of despair
A tale of defeat
A tale of victory
A tale of joy
A tale of a life
Lived in its fullness

R.I.P

Vho - Mususumeli Alepheus Mmbara

Hayani

U fuwa shango ndi mini?

Zwavhifha lia shanduka 

ha sala u ngolidza mato 

utshi thama wa pfumelwa

nne athi ni divhi 

ni muthu de?

ni toda mini?

ndi ni fhe ri fhambane

lwanga lwendo ndi maseto

a lu tshimbilelwi munwe

nne ndo tshimbila 

u mbona ndi tshi vho homelwa 

asi one mathomo anga 

nnditsheni ndi tuwe 

zwanga ndi dzhene ha Tshivhasa

na wanga mudi u nake 

zwanga ndi sedze Phiphidi

ngauri afha asi haya ha muthu 

zwe nda da ndo fara ndi miloro

yo wedzaho yo lala 

yo fholodzaho ndi mavharivhari

nne ndi la mivhundu 

ngauri haya hau ndi haya hau 

nangwe la kovhela tenda wa swika 

ndala na vhuvhi hayo 

asi mukano une wa kunda ndivho

ya nngwana ndi hayani ndi khwine

ndi pfi muthu

yanga mbilu i rule.

Hayani asi luanakha 

naho thavha dzo adza

udzi gonya asi muhwalo

tenda nda swika.

 

Unforgiven

Scars are vultures
They linger around for my death
To tear me apart in  decay
The streets never embraced
The pain and the sorrow
Of a life spend in the mute pursuit
Of something richer
Time changes
New dawns arrive unabated
The moon and the sun
Locked in a constant race
It rains in summers
But the scars never washes off
A constant reminder of hurt
Eating my soul away each day

The Memory

I meet the memory of myself on the old roads
Sometimes young. sometimes old.
is he coming or going?
from where to where?
All mixed up
The right time on the wrong road.
The right road leading to the wrong place.
He wont tell me
There is daylights left in me
He still got a chance
Don't loose it
Don't let the old bruises put the rope around your neck
It's dark.

(All lines written by Athol Fugard on Bosman & Lena put together into this poem by dzumbu mmbara.)

Kenny Motsamai

1994 ndi muloro we wasi wedze
Ndi kungumutavha ye ya mela thavha
Vhavhi vho vhofholowa
Ngeno vha lwelwa mbofholowo vha tshe ngeo

Naa ndi mini tshe Mandela ari nea?
Ngeno vhusiwana vhutshe ho toka midzi
Na muvhala waho u wonoyu washu
Izwi arongo fhurwa?

Ro zwifhelwa
Vho Kenny Motsamai vha gai?
Vha tshi felani?
Na 1994 ndi mini?

Vha vhofhololeni!!!

Pfene na Thoho

Pfene na thoho
Ahuna ano sea munwe
Zwothe ndi makovhi
We mbifho
Ndi musi u songo di sedza

He iwe Pfene
Lukovhi ndi lwa mini?
Arali u nyalunako?

U tshi sea thoho ndi mini?
U tou shaya na muvhudzi naa?
Au vhudze u di sedze