Witchcraft Poem by Niki Nicholas Nkuna

Last night I lost my precious sleep,
My neighbour was at it again,
Walking in the sleep of my body and the glare of my brain,
I saw it all but when I came to it,
He was gone,
The still of the night, very dark and unsteady,
In the clutch of his heavy presence in my imagination and superstitious believe,
My body shivering with premonition and the glare of his nocturnal eyes,

The dog bark called for a light,
With it I could only see the light end and my vulnerability,
I recoiled into my dungeon blaming all mice scavenging noise to the witch,
And God, for the blanket of the day which brought reign to witchcraft,
Strange mannerisms in the dawn, subject of psychology,
Witchdoctor's lesson, unfinished story forever,
The night too dark to unravel with pieces of bones,
The snoop dog can only smell it from the northern side,
Beyond which the conjurer's bones cannot reach
Let alone the root, which is too deep to reach with one or two cows,

The ball is back in the court,
The verdict is easy, my neighbour is tied to the north side,
All coincidences are gone with the wind,
Mannerisms and manoeuvres by next door are concrete,
The hawk eyes that follow me are blinding torches,
That spoiled my day and spear the night with the eyes of an owl,
The mice mistook the danger lacking above,
For the race of the moon's glare against the clouds,

My movements and that of my family are measured,
Limited by the pieces of bones,
Our loose mannerisms curtailed by two bones,
That chose to separate from the group in want of recognition,
The force of throw is meaningless,
The map is spread before me and the conjurer,
To determine the side of the wind blow,
I, forever acknowledging in the language of the spirits,
My conjurer, stirring the spirits in a mass of confusion,

Niki Nkuna,5 March 2012