18 December 2012

MOSAIC

MOSAIC 
© Farouk Asvat 

Here, in the city of towers
In the land of midnight statements
Among the bluegums and minedumps
Here, it is the silence of the jungle.

     ●
     I lean against cold marble pillars
     In the foyer of the magistrates' court
     While Vuyi waits for the verdict
     His solitary confinement mind
     Not taking in the jargon.

Here in the peninsula of the Khoi
Again, the seasons are out of touch:
Our lives are yesterday-today-tomorrows
That bloom in the spring that comes before winter.

     ●
     NhuNhu, unknown and unmourned,
     Took his life
     Tied it up in a shoestring
     Hung it from the prisonrail.

Our lives are not our own
Here in the land of the mielie farmer
For cattle are easily bound and slaughtered
Laughter and tears go unnoticed.

     ●
     I was not born with a switchblade in my hand;
     I had to learn the rhythm of the streets:
     Western is too fast with its guns,
     The whiteman too calculated with his dealings.

Apartheid has done its work.

Soweto, shrouded in smoke,
Raises its Black fists against the sky;
And I, somewhere inbetween,
Raise mine here in the city:
Half-defiant, half-angry.

     ●
     We live in interesting times.
     And in the nature of this curse
     We gallivant with death
     We make ancestors of young men
     We make heroes of dead men

Zanempilo, the bringer of health,
Is also the bringer of death.
Malusi's rolling laughter
And Biko's spirit lives here.


© farouk asvat

composed: 1976 [Johannesburg, South Africa under apartheid]

[] Acknowledgements:

Mosaic was previously published in:

     The Time Of Our Lives (black thoughts publications, p73, 1982);
     The Time Of Our Lives (piquant publications, p79, 2007);
     www.faroukasvat-poems.blogspot.com (18.12.2012);
     The Time Of Our Lives (kindle, 2014);
     The Time Of Our Lives (amazon paperback, p79, 2014).

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
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the anthology The Time Of Our Lives by Farouk Asvat
is now available on amazon: paperback @ $10 & kindle @ only $5
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© farouk asvat.  All rights reserved.

Farouk Asvat asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means whatsoever, or transmitted in any form or any means whatsoever, mechanical or electronic, including recording, printing, photocopying, or via any computerised means or media, including the internet.  This publication shall also not be stored in a retrieval system.  And the writing shall not be sold, lent, hired, resold or circulated in any form or binding or cover other than that in which it is published,
without the prior permission of the author in writing.
Permission to publish or reproduce the writings in any format can be obtained from the author.
Reproduction of this work without permission, except for scholarly & nonprofit purposes,
is liable to a payment of 10, 000 ren men bi or US$ 1,500.

farouk asvat can be contacted at: farouk.asvat@gmail.com

[] please check out my blogs @:





books by farouk asvat: www.faroukasvat-books.blogspot.com

[] also link up on:






amazon kindle author @ www.amazon.com/author/faroukasvat

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
the NOVEL Sadness In The House Of Love by Farouk Asvat
is now available on amazon: paperback @ $15 & kindle @ only $5
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

#love #literature #fiction #novel #poetry #southafrica #apartheid #books #classics
#faroukasvat #weapons of words #comparative literature #literary criticism
#the time of our lives #mosaic


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