Amakeia Then And Now Poem by Gert Strydom

If ever there were treason
against humanity,
the slaughter of the black woman Amakeia
trying to rescue
the life of the small white child
drives it to the point

Spears raining down
on a innocent woman and child
during the 1834 war
are images that stay
in with me
and I still feel my arm hairs rise,
while I see assegais glitter
in the sun
and a farmhouse
burning down to the ground
and know how much unreasonable hatred
the Maxosas had to have in their hearts
to kill a women and baby child
and even the elements
still try and lull the kid.

II

It’s in the middle of the day and criminals
stand at the door of a house,
as if no Police
or any security
can stop them.

They are armed with weapons of war
and no life
have any value to them
and to murder and rape
comes to them like second nature,
as if demons
are guiding their deeds.

Spare the child,
spare my life
the faithful nanny asks
with tears
running down her cheeks
and with her hands
are trying to protect the small child
and it’s a miracle
if the criminals
note what she says
and if the nanny and child
and are locked in a room
while the most valued things are taken.



[Reference: poem “AMAKEIA” by A.G. Visser.]