Thabani Khumalo Poems

The world has sought to crush me down,
to make nothing out of my hopeful efforts and dreams,
to make nothing out of my future and myself.
...

In the middle of the crepuscule
when the binding dark night is alive,
every soul is tranquilly retired,
I begin to feel the fire burn along the spine
...

When I was a little child,
it was made sure - by my royal father -
that my life was only present
in the most intriguing moments of entertainment.
...

The infernally dark land of Barmby was an oasis
which lay on a spring before the desert of colorful gems
in the shanty city of a place we now call Bulawayo -
which was built by my father Mthobo
...

Dear Santa

Greetings... dear Santa!
I hope I find you in a lighter heart.
...

I was compelled,
all my life to make a harangue;
a harangue and nothing else in particular detail,
but a concisely put harangue on what other people have done.
...

A torn man, totally broken and languished -
obviously tired and feeling unsure,
askew-ly stands in a state of a guilty doubt
upon the bridge of life that leads to eternal freedom.
...

All my life,
I've been faithfully harboring a fear of being a gentleman;
All my life,
my body has been conditioned into a state of being an abberated cripple;
...

I try to consider the dark meaning
behind all the work of the human senses
and the different perceptics thereof,
as we continue upon this flying planet of being
...

Alone in a dark and quiet place;
at a somber garden of meaningful isolation,
I can hear the soft sound of the river
insomuch that I can think about it in clear words.
...