Dead town

I lie awake 

With brooding eyes, I lie awake 

I lie awake at night thinking about all the blood spilled in my street alone 

Everything they touch, they destroy 

On the streets, on my way home

The whole town 

People say, "it was not me, it was this place”

I fear for this place 

I fear what's to come 

Mistrust, love has gone behind 

A world of hurt

Release me to the night 

Ease the agony of these days 

To see past my own revulsion and to open my heart 

Are the stars out tonight?

I do not know if it is cloudy or bright 

I lie awake 

With brooding eyes, I lie awake 

I lie awake at night knowing she is struggling 

Struggling and carrying this guilt around 

A trip around the sun, and she is still here 

She is still her

I try and take care of her 

There's something in knowing 

You made a place people like to come back to 

I try and take care of her

But I am just a kid 

I forget things

I lie awake 

With brooding eyes, I lie awake 

I lie awake at night thinking how fetching she was 

Her beautiful, perfect face 

She would always find her way back to peace within her daily routine 

In her nightly routine 

Until she was entombed in it

They did not say any of that at the funeral 

They did not say how welcoming she was 

Her beautiful, perfect face

All that is left is the shape of it 

“Take me with you”, I cried in my heart 

“Take me. Drag me down like you did the others”

She seemed so small, at the end

She was gone long before she died 

Aphuma netinyembeti

Yinkhulu lendzaba

Ngivukile vukani, yinkhulu lendzaba

Nilele? Akusabeli muntfu

Ngumdlwenguli lomuntfu

Ngu malume wam, imphilo yam

Yinkhulu lendzaba

Ngivukile vukani, yinkhulu lendzaba

Nilele? Akusabeli muntfu

Ngumbulali lomuntfu

Ngu babe wam, imphilo ya make wam

Batali bam, lishwa lam

Nilele? Akusabeli muntfu

Yinkhulu lendzaba

Ngivukile vukani, yinkhulu lendzaba

“Ngifikelwe madimoni mine

Angilinga mine

 Ngicoleleni bantfwabam ngiyashweleta mine”

Noma ngingacola kute lokuyongibuyela mine

Bengingati mine, nasemaphusheni ami mine

Ngalenye imini ngiyo dlwengulwa mine

 Ngidlwengulwe nguwe mine

Yinkhulu lendzaba

Umoya wam uyangishiya

Batsi utovalelwa kulahlwe netikhiya

Lijele nekujeziswa kwakho akuyongisita mine

Bozankosi nekudvonsa iminyaka akuyongisita mine

Lamagama lawa aphuma netinyembeti 

Tiyageleta njengemfula logeleta ngentsaba 

Lonendzaba uyabona yinkhulu lendzaba

Ngibhala lencwadzi ngibhalela lonendzaba

Yinkhulu lendzaba

Ngivukile vukani, yinkhulu lendzaba

Ngigucile ngiyanicela mine

Simo lesangehlela mine

Ngihlaba umkhosi, ngicela ningilekelele

Lona bengitsembe ngemphilo yam ungijikele

Yinkhulu lendzaba

Ngivukile vukani, yinkhulu lendzaba

Lonendzaba ngicela angisite asisite ngalendzaba

Nilele? Akusabeli muntfu

Ngumdlwenguli lomuntfu

Ngu malume wam, imphilo yam

Nilele? Akusabeli muntfu

Ngumbulali lomuntfu

Ngu babe wam, imphilo ya make wam

Batali bam, lishwa lam

The rifle does not discriminate

The black, the white

The guilty, the innocent

You do not feel anything at first 

But as you fall to the ground 

The pain washes over you and it is excruciating 

I talked to the widow on my way in 

I peeped through the window as she sang

“Still all my song shall be

Nearer, my God, to thee”

Chair scraped, she sat there with her fiddle

Sooner or later, men with the badge find the wrong end of the rifle

Men with the badge can only talk through their guns or their fists

There is nothing scarier than a man with a gun

They shot her husband in the back in the dying of the sun

They grabbed him by the feet, cracked his head open

They left her son with holes, in the mud to die

Their bodies left to fester and corrupt in the hot sun

Tears come to my eyes

I have nothing but sorrow

There is no hope for tomorrow 

The ranger in a uniform 

The right luminary 

The sinner, the saint

You do not feel anything at first 

But as you fall to the ground 

The pain washes over you and it is excruciating 

Everyday is a blue Monday

I hear a gunshot 

I hear cheering and whistling 

The lawman winds up dead on the street, shot in the back

An officer of the law

A virtual human barricade between chaos and civilization 

Two patrol lawmen down in the time it takes to spit

A rifle can still bite you hard at hundred yards

All dead before they even hit the ground 

You fall and never know you fell

The night is my companion 

Launches my thoughts and opinions 

Nguwe

Nayi inhlitiyo yam'

Nguwe sicalo nesiphetfo semphilo yam'

Nguwe lonendzaba ngetindzaba letephula umphefumulo wam'

Mine nginoma ngingedvwa 

Ngitishaya sifuba ngikubongelela ngisho kutsi wena awucedvwa

Ngacedza ngadla ematsambo engcondvo yam'

Ngafunga ngatsi nguwe nguwe sicalo nesiphetfo semphilo yam'

Uyakhumbula ngikwetsela ngikucocela ngetifiso nemaphupho am'

Uyakhumbula ngingingita ngingabata ngebukhulu bemandla am'

Ngingatetsembi ngisho ngitsi nguwe ucekisa emandla am'

Ngatinikela wamamatseka ngesento sam'

Bamba umoya wam'

Nguwe lengimitsembe ngenhlitiyo yam'

Buka, khuta nati titsa tam'

Emehlweni abo awukafaneli kuba nam'

Bangibita ngawo onkhe emagama batitsa tam'

Buka, khuta nati titsa tam'

Abanandzaba bakhwela bayatehlela

Ngakubo kuyehlela ngakimi kuyenyukela

Batsi lutsandvo alunamehlo ngabe luyangibukela

Buka, khuta nati titsa tam'

Nguwe lonendzaba ngetindzaba letiphula umphefumulo wam'

Nguwe sicalo nesiphetfo semphilo yam'

Tsatsa konkhe ushiye kuphela lutsandvo lwakho

Lutsandvo lwakho nelwami lujabhisa titsa tami netakho

Bamba sandla sami nalu lutsandvo lwam'

Kusho mine ngibambe sandla sakho ulidvondvolo lwam'

Kusho mine ngintontomela ngishiya konkhe kuhlupheka kwam'

Nguwe lonetikhiya tenhlitiyo yam'

 Uvula ungene ujangaze kuvuke yonkhe imizwa yam'

Nguwe sicalo nesiphetfo semphilo yam'

Awake

I dreamt about dreaming

Dreams within a dream

The reality of these dreams

The actuality of what it seems 

A nightmare following me out of my dreams 

A nightmare of becoming who I will be

In my dreams, everything is cold

A climate of insolence

In my dreams, I am on edge 

What do you think about me when thinking about me?

I am afraid I need to be saved from who you perceive me to be

A teeny-weeny earthling

Blurry, empty like I have given blood

Infirmity of the mind

Identity Gordian knot

I am afraid the coat I am wearing does not fit

In my dreams, I am attacked for being distinct

Under your psychiatric care  

Under your laughing academy 

You visited me in the hospital 

Your revelations poisonous and lethal

Battle-tested friendships

You don’t want me to have anything in my life that’s not you

In my few seconds of sleep

So much of this feels like a dream

In between deaths

In my dreams, darkness comes to me

When the morning comes

An unconscious state of affairs 

Buried in the unconscious, I feel lifeless 

Awake in my dark island, I am motionless 

I want righteousness 

I want to see what I become 

Lidvume lengca

Nali letfwele liyahashatela

Lengca tonkhe tihosha licondze la liyashashabula

 selivele liphansi letfwele 

Ngihleti ngedvwa ngeswele

Ngihleti ngedvwa umoya ukhatsatekile

Ingcondvo isangene ikhungatsekile

Ngiphila kalukhuni imphilo iyangiphicaphica

Liyamanyata nemafu amnyama ayangifica 

Liyagagabula liyagcoba likhafula emalangabi 

Lidvume lengca 

Lengca netilimo nemiphefumulo yalabanye

Ligadla ngemandla lihambe libuye

Libuye nebantfwabalo 

Lalandza lalandzisisa

 Ngalibuka letfwele ngalibukisisa

Ngatibuta ngatiphendvula ngivisisa

Leni nje siphatsane kanjena?

Ngikwenteni na?

Inkinga ikuphi?

Ngalamanye emalanga ngiyehluleka kutibamba

Titsi chu! 

Njengumfula tinyembeti tigelete 

Ngihlehlele emuva ngitidedele 

Ngikhongetele ngigeze ebumnyameni

Lidvume lengca

Labalati kancono batsi liyadvuma lengce kubencono

Labangati kancono batsi nginawo emandla ekwenta konkhe kubencono

Ibebovu indlela ngihambe

Bubeluhlata klaba! tjani iye emadlelweni imfuyo ihambe 

Shonamalanga lidvume lihambe

Lidvume lengca

Ematje nemagadze esangcotfo engca

Emehlweni ami libalele 

Butfongo buyehla noma sengilele 

Lidvume lengca

Lidvume lengca nebantfwabalo

Laphuma lilanga 

Ngatsamela ngakhanyisa

Lidvume lengca

Lubuyile nelutsandvo 

Lungilalele lwangipha indlebe 

Ngibambelele kulo sisobabili

Siyancokola sihleti kumnandzi sisobabili

Lungibuke emehlweni 

Injabulo ibhalwe ebusweni

Lutsandvo lutsi nalo belungasatsandzi nasengihlala ngikhala njalo

Ngite emagama ekuchaza injabulo yekubakhona kwalo

Emanceba apholile

Litsemba nenshisekelo kubuyile 

Lidvume lengca inhlitiyo ithulele

The old house

 Passion, fashion, distress 

The help, the happiness

 The bitterness 

Embedded in the walls 

The walls still standing 

The walls retain ears 

The house has not been tended for years

Before word leaks

Wild stories about the house

About the house almost being burned down 

About the house being the evil minds museum 

Someone had been living down there

Who knows how long ago or for how long?

The water still running in the washroom 

The winds still kind 

I feel heat

I feel the house’s heartbeat 

Someone’s in the house 

Skeptical and dubious 

Peeking behind the curtains 

I see my childhood, I see children 

Children transport us to our childhood 

The combats in the house I withstood 

Happiness? No, no, no, no

In this house even the turmoil was terrified 

In some places the walls moving 

My own house

I have been purified by the torment in the house

I listen to the voice inside the house

“I know I mistreated you in the past”

Revelry drowning out the cries of torment

My power grows with each phase of the moon

I am not saying that she is pretty 

This land, this house

She followed me in this life

Thou will follow me in the next

Mingle with the soil, entombed