Before The Rain Poem by Letter From My Mother's Womb

Before the rain

The land went dry,
So were my hopes,
I hid behind my room door, to cry
Can't I live long like the apes?

They asked for my time,
They said I shouldn't worry,
They would pay me a therapist,
In the meantime, they called a psychologist

I became confused,
I suddenly felt helpless,
Why sudden helpline calls?
They said they won't be hopeless.

They could see I got drained,
I sat down carefully,
My left kidney was pained,
I got disturbed...

They took my saliva,
My blood samples,
My urine,
And next?

'Your life is at risk, you've got cancer
You've got HIV,
You're suffering from kidney failure.'
What kind of cancer?

'Bone cancer'
My world broke!
I saw my heart being ripped off!
I didn't know what to do.

This happened before the rain,
All the pain,
The sickness,
I went home, two weeks after, I received a call

The doctor called me in,
After the storm,
He said you were going to be safe,
You wouldn't get any of my deceases.

I felt at ease,
Even when I was in danger,
I felt safe, since you were going to be safe
Before the rain, and after the storm.

Keitumetse Mokhahlane
@2019