Scream: A History Of Oppression.Chapter 04 Poem by Martin Lochner

*4*

plumes of smoke drift over
the karoo land
limpid blue skies turning
grey and flaming red

one kommando farmer
seeing the smoke near his land
races his horse with a rabies mucus froth
to find his life’s work
scorched and burning
and a note dangling
on the front door

scorched earth policy,
children and women
detained until you swear allegiance
to king and country
swinburne soldier poet compares the inmates
to whelps and dams of murderous foes
but the rednecks do better
keeping them in coops like
stray dogs or pathetic stray kittens.

bright eyed children burning with consumption
tormenting guilt of mothers failing to quench
the thirst of the young and the old,
losing their minds and feeding babies
their lacerated blood.

death camp moaning
as gangrene rots
inside tents and coverings
agonised screams as
legs and limbs are amputated.

kommandos overlooking those camps
weep over the suffering
of our loved ones
62000 die in those gentleman’s death camps
and the queen gets the cullinan diamond
for her successful campaign

fearless warriors who use attila acumen in the field
bring the great empire to its lion knees
shooting them down from horseback
simple men that fight
out of a simple conviction that our land
is not going to be sucked dry
by the colonial leeches.
guerilla warriors crawling on proud knees
relinquishing their spirit
for the release of our families
the rednecks relishing the squirming
of a stubborn boer

dirty tricks succeed where battle has failed
to defeat these fighters on the fields of war
bloemfontein decorated with the tombstones of the
albion people and their wealthy exploits