I Resolve To Live! Poem by Niki Nicholas Nkuna

Chains clanging, big steel, rusty gates and doors,
Slanging shut, locked,
Silence….
I resolve to live!

Chains clanging,
Loud voices, heavy doors opened,
Heavy, noisy boot steps,
Heavy steel doors banging, shut,
Silence…..
Heavy boot steps, sound fading,
I resolve to live..!

Heavy boot steps outside the door,
Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
Clanging of shiny aluminium dishes,
Dogs' dishes, and plates!
Here's food! Eat..! Eat..!
Clean the dishes!
I resolve to live…!

Next day, heavy boot steps,
Bang! Bang…!
Clanging of keys, heavy steel doors opening,
One by one,
Loud voices, shouting,
Wake up! Wake up!
Come out! Come out!
Out in the quarry!
I resolve to live…!

Heavy hammers, shovels and picks on shoulders,
Boots thumbing the dusty ground amid swelling cold wind,
Robben Island, Indian Ocean could icy winds,
Un-characteristic and merciless,
I resolve to live….!

Loud noise, hammers knocking on white quarry rocks and boulders,
Eye struck with rock debris, seeing become blur,
Broken quarry rocks,
White dust swelling all over,
Both eyes become blurred,
I resolve to live…..!

Day after day,
Hammers smashing against hard quarry rocks and boulders,
Back and forth,
No hope of a sunny day!
Mist, mist, no glare,
Gloomy! Gloomy day after day,
Decade after decade,
One year, two years, three years, four years, Five years, six years, Seven years….!
Twenty seven years……!
Yet I resolve to live……!

Hoorah….! Hoorah….!
Free… at last! Free… at last! Free… at last!
Democracy…! Democracy….!
I resolve to live and let li…ve…! Freedom….!
Free… at last! Free… at last!

Poem about Nelson Mandela on Robben Island
South Africa by Niki N Nkuna