Born In 1985 Poem by Thabani Khumalo

Born in 1985 like I,
They told me that it meant civilization, me working for them.
So they stripped me of the hide my fathers had put me to don
I worked long and I worked hard before they put in my tired hand
A coin from steel and a note from paper; which was my pay.

Born in 1985 like I,
They told me that it meant success, me procuring land from them.
Another long time elapsed and again I was paid in the same pattern
Such that they sold me land and I bothered not ask where they had got it
And from my pay I paid them for every second its deed was in my name.

Born in 1985 like I,
I build a family of beautiful children who grew up to run after the same success as I
And so they worked for the other children born in same year as they had
Procuring and renting without asking why they should until I realized that there was a price to pay.
The ignorant suffer with everlasting slavery and the wise suffer with slavery and pain - eternally.

Born in 1985 like I,
I found them in every avenue of my life that I ran away from them to them,
They made me decry them exalting them; by them I forgot them,
And I hated them looking to love them,
I blasphemed them while worshiping them and they became my god for a while
Until he became my God - permanently, yet, born in 1985 like I.