If I Could Hop And Laugh Like Angels Poem by Sarah Mkhonza

If I could laugh the laughter of angels,
My laugh ringing far beyond my beak,
To a place nobody's naked eye has seen,
Tearing into the air of new neutrinos,
Making it shiver with the hope of destiny
Blowing my breath into an emptiness,
And hearing it echo back with a long sound,
Like the gulls of the south that sing,
In Oohs and Aahs flapping their wings,
With the youth wondering about places,
That hear this laugh and call all to come,
To hear my laugh and not just stand,
And enter the shuffle that stifles the walk,
Of hearing rules that call with sounds,
Of school bells that ring every hour
And tell me my journey has a destiny,
In horizons far that yell my name.
And tell me there is coming a day,
When the hole I am in, me, this Joseph,
My coat of many colors on my arm,
This kaleidoscope in my hands, my soul,
Still denying these messages I laugh about
For they have heard of the coming day,
When I will laugh like an angel
And shun forever these nervous giggles.

The story teller tells me she wonders always,
If I will have the pith and core,
That sings yes when the hymn of heaven opens,
With a word I heard in the past,
Walking me into futures beyond this era,
This time of endless musings,
Where anything could happen to anybody,
Who happens to stand and hear the song,
That made me cry so sorrowfully when I heard,
That people had died in numbers somewhere,
And laughed because angels still laugh,
When life assures them of tomorrow,
For they will be there this they know,
For they learned on the day they became,
In a world no different from my own,
To assure me I will laugh loudest,
When the hour comes to laugh longest,
For I will be last dancer in the ring,
Having been called to wipe my tears away,
For the world always changes to the bright,
Hope that we nurse in our soft greetings,
That we whisper into the wind everyday,
Saying hallo to yet another day,
With the hope that's in the jump,
As I hop and laugh aloud,
Like children hopping in their game,
Where each one takes their own turn,
To leap and throw the person in then
Because of the change that we hold in us,
Of the angel we will have become,
When we utter the laugh of the angels like them
For their laughter is endless even when they lose,
In this game they play always in streets,
With their lines drawn with the sky looking,
In lines that tell of their innocence,
For their destinies are just like ours.