Wednesday, October 31, 2007

In Africa, South Africa

In Africa, South Africa, inhabitants bend low
and run indoors for safety from the pelting rain
but after the turn-off the sun shines down again
and we forget the trauma of sodden outerwear.


In Africa, South Africa, we simply must forget
for remembrances produce a long-term problem
and it costs everyone about twenty-years of life
when empathy in full swing slashes at a heart.


In Africa, South Africa, there are broken down trucks
and the traffic lights are out when energy is shed
but when the local commentator says to turn around
there is plain and simply nowhere else to go.


In Africa, South Africa, we’ve got the bigger things
like crime escalation and credit providers
but when we talk retirement we look at the crossroads
in the distance small with non-existent signs.


It’s a land of milk and honey; everyone is milked
and the honey bottled lest we become too sweet
but everything is charged at current standard rates
and we pay, pay, pay, to help the people pray!

2 comments:

  1. Must it be that way, for everyone? Proverbial: Why, why, why.
    This makes urgency seem so mundane anywhere else.
    Love this write Helen.

    Jamie

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  2. Thanks, Jamie. There always is a "why", isn't there? When I come back I'll be able to answer every "why" that anyone may ever ask. The rub is that I would have forgotten because rebirth does that to one but why anyone would want to come back is beyond me. I'm thinking that my eternity will be to stay where I came from unless this lifetime has entrenched a "run away" attitude. I'm inclined to ramble on bad days like today. Why do bad days always follow good ones? A conspiracy no doubt.

    Oh, yes, it has to be that way for everyone. I'm referring to the forgetting because apartheid is continually being remembered and is perhaps, perhaps, causing more of a problem today than it did originally and perhaps, perhaps, will do so for many more years to come. But the future's not mine to see. Be well, Jamie.

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