Start Of A Home Invasion Poem by Gert Strydom

On a weekday evening
while some people,
were watching the late comedy show
on television, laughing or smiling

when others were dining out romantically,
falling more in love
with candles sparkling
while their eyes glittered

when the extended show
at the cinema Nuevo was almost ending
which was portraying
Romeo and Juliet from Britain by satellite

when a father had helped his son
prepare for the next day’s mathematics test,
the family had already had their evening prayers
a loving husband had kissed his wife goodnight

when most of the lights
in the houses in the neighbourhood
was switched off
with only amber street lights shining

when most of the people
in the neighbourhood was already asleep
and the dogs in the neighbourhood
stopped howling at the moon and were sleeping

the falcons armed to the teeth
unexpectedly crashed their black trucks
through the outside gate, broke down the garage door,
broke down the front door

opened and broke doors inside a house,
causing destruction and havoc
in the life
of a innocent citizen

and later admitted that it was
the wrong address,
where they had made
a tremendous mess.

[References: The falcons: a South African agency similar to the American F.B.I. Start of a Removal by Sipho Sepamla.]