Umhlaba uyahlaba (The world is a pain-filled place)

To all the people of my generation
Raising children
And helping raise nieces and nephews
And other little ones
Please tell the children the truth
*Umhlaba uyahlaba.

Love them. Protect them.
But please don’t end your lectures at,
“Listen to me:
You’ll work hard and pray everyday
And get married and live happily ever after.”

Life is hard. Even for the ‘regular do-gooders.’
Life brings the unexpected. It’s full of surprises.
Some of them unpleasant.
But don’t tell them that if they behave well
Life will be good to them.
That’s just not true.

It’s the virtuous thing to do. It’s the honorable thing to do.
It’s what must be done.
But, no. Being good does not lead to perpetual happiness.
Really, perhaps it’s not at all for our own joy. But for others.

Please teach them resilience,
Where you would have read them fairy-tales
Teach them ambition, instead of to live in a dream world
Teach them to love stubbornly
Even in the face of loneliness, fear,
rejection, segregation, the unknown, the unfathomable,
the incomprehensible, the unaccepted, the unacceptable
-when they stand to gain nothing but pain, included.

Read them myths, maybe. Of overcoming the impossible.
Then tell them that someone somewhere in the world
Made that myth reality
Because that would be the truth.
Tell them you are telling them
What you are telling them
Not so that they expect hardship and anguish
But that they breathe with complete abandon
and happen to be prepared when the terrible comes.

For the love of truth and honesty that may hurt but builds,
Please tell the children.

*Ndebele phrase meaning, ‘The world is a pain-filled place.’

By Tebogo G.H Ndlovu (Zimbabwe)

Picture Source : www.facebook.com/jadiliafrika

Come home Father...

Come back Father,
come home to love me.
Lift me in your strong and firm hands,
throw me up high,
hoist me above where the sun sits,
where such is the stature of your affection,
poised and robust.

Rise and awake from your lowly sleep,
where you slumber and slobber
in your unperturbed rest.
Dreaming the deferred, 
Waiting for the chiming of the trumpet,
to mark the coming of the unknown. 
But I implore you; be kind enough,
awake and love me,
where you left me lost and searching...

Come back Father,
where my love stands filial and loyal
and see me prosper.
My future yonder,my success is nigh. 
All awaits your return.

Return to me,
to be my harness and strength,
as I skate on thin ice,
to face the most tumultuous of all storms.
In the wake of the cold and gloomy nights:
give me comfort,give me warmth,
so I may be kept safe,
with your discerning wisdom.

Like vigorous children running up a hill
my hope fades away into the horizon.
My days are dark,they see no light.
Your light. Your vision. Your vigilance.

Come back Father,
and tuck me to bed,kiss my forehead,
I will no longer be sad.
Come home to me,
where I humbly hum the hymn of he,
Who vowed to bring you back to me.

Come back to love me..

By Alex Nyasha Dube (Zimbabwe)

Picture source- www.facebook.com/JadiliAfrika

WHAT YOU ARE TO ME...

You bring unimaginable joy to me

A spark of hope you bring to my world

A world hitherto sullen and solitary

When you talk, you address the fears of my mind

You sooth my aching soul with your honey-filled melodies

My heart finds a shelter in you, never to depart no more

In you I find my being, you bring back long forgotten memories

Memories likened to the titanic kind of love

How I yearn for your telepathic caresses

My oasis in the desert have you become

It is true we taste darkness, so we can appreciate day

Like a sweet scented petal, you attracted many insects

From far and near they sought your love and attention

Yellow, Indian, Hispanic, Asian, white they did come

Yet you chose me, an African man

Trusted the oceans when it was still

When it became stormy with its accompanying uncertainties,

You foresaw the end of the tempest and built your nest

I am married to your embraces forever

Through thick and thin, I will remain true

In life’s ups and downs, I will be there

Till your mortal remains is lowered beneath

I will remain yours truly and faithfully

I love you my love, I love you.                                                                                           

By Michael Dale-Asiedu (Ghana)

Photo credits : www.facebook.com/jadiliafrika