Le methlare e a loba (even trees experience loss)
A ile a falala matlakala
(Leaves have fallen)
One of them were you
Nnete ke hwele lehu la pitsana
(In truth, I died a momentary death)
When your cling to my outstretched arm
Was called to its end by gravity
Bathi uthweleumhlaba ngesfuba
(A Zulu idiom, they say you now carry the weight
Of the world on your broad shoulders, meaning death)
My pinkie was the last of our union
Hush, were you scared?
As wind blew away at our embrace
Leaving you shrivelled alone in the cold
Because I’m ashamed of my inability to bend
My thin arms into a nest
Where you will remain cradled next to me
I guess it’s for the best
It’s not fair that I remain upright.
Feet firmly stepping on pests,
While you break down into the soil.
Get trampled on.
Reduce into a memory
Erased by the tick tock
Of my wrist watch.
Not to worry
A ngike usalezwa ikhasa lok’phila
(You remain sheathed from cold occurrences in life)
Le phiso ya lefase
(as well as the roast of life)
Dintweng ao sa e tsena
(You won’t have to remedy any feuds)
As you have eternally traded blood for humus
My whispers
Will be the melodies
Birds will spread on the sky
Our time together will remain fly
Bjale letsatsi ge le etsha le ge lesubela
o ka se be gona.
(Now as the sun rises
And as it sets, it is your presence I won’t see)
I learnt inhalation
is the only real barrier from you.
consequently, I accept carbon dioxide inhales
to earn my place here on earth
As you break down
To be one with the soil
you are woven
to nurture most of our growth
Ghude amanikiniki
(A Zulu saying for may you do your best)
to rise in the occasion
of aluta continua
(the struggles that recur)
The leaf don’t fall far from the tree
death your only uhuru (freedom)