How am I free?
When tied by the shackles of poverty
When merely living for survival
And the tools at my disposal
Are inadequate to attain prosperity
Yet dreaming to live in glee

How am I free?
When my big headed
And thin necked brother
Is left to wonder
On the streets barefooted
His huge grotesque belly
Not from being well fed
Barely clinging from his visible ribcage
School a forgotten luxury and privilege
For it’s not even a secondary priority
In an ill sheltered, health and poverty stricken family

I am the peasant
Who was always present
In the black oppressed’s noble quest
To attain freedom from whites
I disturbed the peace
I threw stones at the white police
Instigated riots and stay aways
Teargassed, batoned, and sjamboked
Even shot at in return
But now I’m sidelined
Like a naughty child
Relegated from the dinner table

I, whose brethren and comrades
Compatriots and patriots
Family and loved ones
In Sharpeville, Bisho, and other places
Were shot dead like flies
Falling as I ran in front of my eyes
Is given diluted freedom
Not feasting on the sweet cake of true freedom
While the black brothers I placed in in power
Selfishly devour

Or is it because of history
That I am perhaps illiterate
Hence maybe unable to articulate
The true meaning of freedom
But surely this can’t be it

I am not dumb!
My proclaimed freedom
Is misconstrued and a misconception
Or nothing but a bureaucratic illusion
Designed to keep the poor tame and complacent

I did not fight to merely mingle with whites
Wearing fancy clothes and suits
While I’m covered in tattered rags I call clothes

This is not the freedom I wanted
My freedom!
The Absolute freedom
Freedom of the unemployed
Freedom of the financially excluded
And freedom for all
Is yet to be realized!