We travelled a long journey
through the wattle forests of Vryheid,
crossed the low-levelled Blood River
whose water flowed languidly
as if dispirited for the
shattered glory of my ancestors
We passed the coalfields of Dundee
blackheads in the wrinkled face
of Northern Zululand
until our train ultimately came
to a hissing stop at Glencoe,
Many people got off
leaving the enraged train
to snort and charge at the night
on its way to Durban.
The time was 8 p.m.
I picked up my suitcase,
sagging under the weight of a heavy overcoat
I shambled to the non-European Maleswaiting room.
The room was crowded
the air hung, a pall of choking odour,
rotten meat, tobacco and sour beer.
Windows were shut tight
against the sharp bite of winter.
Amagoduka sat on bare floor
their faces sucking the warmth
of the coal fire crackling in the corner.
They chewed dried bread
scooped corned beef with rusty knives
and drank mgombothi from the plastic can
which they passed from mouth to mouth.
They spoke animated by
and laughed in thunderous peals.
A irl peeped through the door
they shuddered at the sudden cold blast,
jumped up to fondle and leer at her
Hal ngena Sisil - Oh! come in sister!
She shied like a frightened filly
banged the door and bolted.
They-broke into a tumultuous laughter.
One of them picked up a guitar
plucked it with broken finger nails
caressed its strings with a castor oil bottle
it si hed like a jilted girl.
'You play down! Phansi! Play Dhe whispered.
Another joined in with a concertina,
its sound fluttered in flowery notes
like a butterfly picking pollen from flower to flower.
They wo began to sing,
their voices crying for the mountains
and the hills of Msinga, stripped naked of
their green garment.
They crossed rivers and streams,
gouged dry by the sun rays,
where lowing cattle genuflected
for a blade of grass and a drop of water
on riverbeds littered with carcasses and bones.
They spoke of hollow-cheeked maidens
heaving drums of brackish water
from a far away fountain.
They told of big-bellied babies
sucking festering fingers
instead of their mothers shrivelled breasts.
Two cockroaches
as big as my overcoat buttons
jived across the floor
snatched meat and bread crumbs
and scurried back to their hideout.
The whole group joined in unison:
curious eyes peered through frosted windows
'Ekhaya bafowethu! - Home brothers"
We come from across the Tugela river
we are going to EGoli! EGoli! EGoli!
where they'll turn us into moles
that eat the gold dust
and spit out blood.
We'll live in compounds
where young men are pampered
into partners for older men
We'll visit shebeens
where a whore waits for a fee
to leave your balls burning
with syphilitic fire
If the gods are with us
Oh! beloved black gods of our forefathers
What have we done to you
Why have you foresaken us
we'll return home
to find our wives nursing babies
unknown to us
but only to their mothers and loafers.
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