As If Everything Is Burning To Black (In Answer To Mongane Serote) Poem by Gert Strydom

It’s a relentless hot summer
with sweltering days without rain
where the sun comes up day after day again
and the grass, the leaves are frizzled
trees stand erect like telephone poles
with stripped branches
like silhouettes against the sky

It’s a relentless hot summer
and not only nature knows the pain,
but there’s havoc in humanity,
with oppression surging hotter than the sun
and it feels as if this season
will never pass
as if everything is burning to black
and opportunities for a life will never be back.

[Reference: For Don M. – Banned by Mongane Serote.]