Manenburg by Abigail George | Poems Rethabile Likes
Manenburg
by Abigail George
There're people living there
Grandmothers and aunties,
young men, uncles, ou toppies
Their bodies need seawater, they hunger for it
Men who need employment
and not the old sores of apartheid
Children who need parental supervision
They're all soldiers, aren't they, in a way?
Some do not know that action
is the antidote to hardship, struggle
Some go to bed with a gun under their pillow
The children play at shooting each other
This country is in need of spiritual warfare,
not mass hallucination,
not reckless endangerment,
not this genocidal terrain that borders on insanity
Bodies need the green sea
Take them to the ocean
Don't let them drown in Manenburg
Poets, help the children find the exit out
Let the aunties let the foam of the sea wash over their feet
help the young men to free their minds
The sea is beautiful today. It is calm.
Grandmothers and aunties,
young men, uncles, ou toppies
Their bodies need seawater, they hunger for it
Men who need employment
and not the old sores of apartheid
Children who need parental supervision
They're all soldiers, aren't they, in a way?
Some do not know that action
is the antidote to hardship, struggle
Some go to bed with a gun under their pillow
The children play at shooting each other
This country is in need of spiritual warfare,
not mass hallucination,
not reckless endangerment,
not this genocidal terrain that borders on insanity
Bodies need the green sea
Take them to the ocean
Don't let them drown in Manenburg
Poets, help the children find the exit out
Let the aunties let the foam of the sea wash over their feet
help the young men to free their minds
The sea is beautiful today. It is calm.
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