Ragdolls On Bureaucracy’s Door-Step 27.08.2009 Poem by Margaret Alice

- Eternally young, I will rejoice while repeating my
well-known song -

Deepak Chopra mentions experiments
old people taken back to their youth
environment are rejuvenated body and
soul, I smiled, I do this all the time

Rereading the stories and books of my youth
singing Anna Rudolph’s songs ‘Ons is die blom-
metjies blou en geel, ons staan waar ons staan
want ons kan nêrens gaan…’

Darn, this is a description of government officials
‘Here we stand simply because have nowhere
else to go’ - loss of freedom delineated in the
songs of my youth

A ragdoll on the rubbish dump, broken and old
voices welcome her, but alas, what sight meets
her eyes - tears stinging my eyes, we are the
ragdolls left on bureaucracy’s door-step

See senior officials reduced to despondent smiles
living tattered lives in a corporate nightmare, I see
us in this, an old pumpkin and a broken shoe, a
wilted carnation, an empty can of beer

An old gramophone record – this must be me turning
over and over in the same groove; according to Chopra
Eastern guru par excellence, this procedure keeps
me eternally young

I will rejoice while repeating my well-known song…