Heal The People

Heal The People by Rethabile Masilo

Heal The People
Every time you open your door to them ask what they need, not who they are, enter the voids in their eyes. And if they beg you to lay hands on them, do, because that will not be all; be disappointed in you as you are with death. If from the crowd a voice shouts ‘Let them die!’, let them in. Watch to see how they feel, don’t tell them why you will lay hands on them to allay their pain, don’t leave them sobbing at your door, nor run out of reasons to help them; your hands are the people’s, to uplift and heal; put back what was taken from their will to be alive. It doesn’t get easier, it’s hard, but you will have to do it.

It's hard, but you will have to do it.

Comments

Abigail George said…
A memory garden of words.
Rethabile said…
Thank you. Glad to have grown up with uBuntu
Abigail George said…
To me this was a powerful poem about recognition. Personally I am drawn to healers. Personally I started writing when I started hurting. I needed to have my pain acknowledged. I find when I write poetry and read other poets that it is acknowledged. All poets have two lives, the solitary life, which belongs to the world of imagination and the world in which they exist to please others through care and concern, and unconditional love. Healers have an innate understanding of the pain body, a kind of intimate knowledge. A poet to me is born in childhood and exile. At least I was.