elegy for hadis
no death can silence
the sound of your laughter
it breaks all the chains
of pain

 

your laughter cures
babalazi headaches
on sunday mornings

​

your immortal jokes
resurrect stories of our childhood
of afterschool fistfights
for a hot mabhebeza

​

your memories feed starving smiles
& erase niles
of tears

 

hadis blood of my blood

is it possible to dance

with you again

in the rain

of happiness

​

swim

in the endless

lakes of beer quarts

and spirits

choke in the heavy smell of your feet

even at the sunset

of your life

my face refuses to wear

a stream of tears

but remembers

the fun times we shared together

in melville cafes

chasing skirts

of different sizes

throwing naughty gazes

at their full lips 

‘look and laugh’ fela

o man those days will never die

in my heart

swinging political discussions on empty

beer crates

o, ‘death be not proud’

​

when i am no longer here

remember my colorful laughter

recite all my poems to my beautiful daughter

​

erase the white lines of tears

from her face when i am no longer here

​

plant my poems in every child’s heart

let them find love & freedom in my art

​

free every child from the shackles of illiteracy

and poverty

​

in soweto in lilongwe & in mutare

because we are in a war here

​

free every child-soldier

from the chains of trauma in niger

​

when i am no longer here

climb mount kilimanjaro 

​

& sprinkle the seeds of ubuntu

tear & sweep away terror

& allow the children to dream freely

let them fly

& speak

​

when i am no longer here

cover my coffin with a pile of books

afrikan literature

mphahlela

okri

duiker

materra

& marechera