Roadblock Ahead Poem by Sarah Mkhonza

Be warned,
Roadblock ahead.
When it finds you,
Your hands must
Be clean, for life
Makes us carry,
Things unwanted,
Yet we bear a
Sign that says wanted,
Dead or alive.

This price tag,
On every life,
Follows us written,
And blows in the
Wind, marking us
Telling the world,
Who we are like,
The sign 'Just
Married' on the
Car of newly weds.

When the roadblock
Finds you, there's
Only one test, that
Life demands you pass,
To stand on one leg,
For this becomes one
Fit, that tells the word
Whether you imbibe,
Or not.

If you can pass
This one, the record
Will tell hell master,
To set another road
Block, fifty miles from
Here, for this one is
Manned by the red army
Of the sky. Only those
Who pray a hole in the
Ground make it.

You will make out of your
Jalopy, with the pride
Of a car owner only to
Be told, to get your
Heaptof scrap our of
The way. On this
Road at this hour, only
The cavalcade of the
Prince is allowed. They
Drive on streets by
Invitation these days.


Be warned and throw
The dope out of the
Window. Life has
No mercy on those
Who dope, till
Their minds wave
To the road police
Saying, help me
Arrest him. He
Just broke the
Speed limit, for
He is surely on
Speed. The speedometer,
Will lock up, above
The speed limit, and you
Will swear your own
Vehicle, has turned
Against you, when they
Say you are a road hazard:
A real assassin of the
Road on the loose.

Surely you will take the advice
Of a poet offered free, for
They know the fate of man,
For they read it on a scroll,
That came from above.