When Nobody Wants You To Stand Poem by Sarah Mkhonza

The eyes look at you as a piece of something,
To be removed, stabbed and taken to nowhere,
Yet you journey in the all that is for all,
You step on everybody's earth and look at
Everybody's blue sky and see all of you and
Others breathing hot air before a storm,
You know the cold air lingers out there,
Looking, peeping, wanting to know when
Its turn to blow into someone's eyes will come,
It jets in a plane from afar and the eyes wonder,
Will she survive this one which comes from the
Leeward side of life where no winds blow,
Or go to the windward side where all air sings,
Where the grass sways and opens your eyes,
To a future out there at the ends of the
Tips of your outstretched fingers.
Some know you will get there no matter what,
For you came from where people did not want
You to live the life you see in this air.

You were trained to make happen what does not
Want to be and walk on this table on which you stand,
For it has four corners that jab into your side,
Making you utter words with feeling as you touch,
The side which hurts now, knowing it will hurt,
No more for pain is a part of the universe that,
Imposes itself whenever and however to whomever,
Even on those who do not want you to live here
For they have failed to see themselves in you,
Your pain being their pain as we share the sorrow,
which is our sorrow, like that of the victims
Of today's hunger and poverty which rocked the country,
Killing hundreds who are being buried today,
In a state funeral to be watched by all on this table,
Where others do not want others to live,
For they fear the success of those they oppose,
Yet this life is never in opposition to itself,
As we walk and talk and shake its hands daily,
Looking into eyes sad and merry, red and blue,
Like varicose veins on the leg of one who,
Stands forever working for all of us,
Ready to burst and say no more standing, please.

You stand for it is in you to not move,
To not shake when the earth quakes and faults,
Living you sinking in a quicksand of hope
That shines in horizons far away,
Still saying you shall stand for standing,
Is standing for all who do not have feet,
That have five toes that balance a foot,
With the bones broken, stepped on in this
horse race where we yawn and watch looking
To see which horse will win, so we can get
The windfall that is promised when we cast
the vote that they so desire and tell lies
To get in the name of a better life for all,
Minorities, refugees, immigrants whom nobody
Loves when they take food from the table,
Being better of as Lazarus who sits under
The table and looked on at the smoke,
And glared at the future that is long and
Unchanging even after a vote of the many,
Who declare life is for all who stand,
On this table which shakes with the
Stampede of the powerful who head for,
The offices of power to say, we were there,
In centuries making a history that did
Not change any life but ours who got in.
We stood even when nobody got anything,
For that is what you were told,
To stand when nobody wants you to stand
For life is only for those who do.