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JOY AT REDISCOVERY

Yesterday I got lost
Blatantly ignoring instruction
from the ‘marshal’
I went into the wrong taxi
Perhaps out of the silly urge to improvise
A junkie fix of some sort
Now I found myself shiftless at the seat-edge
Wondering what’s got into the driver
Maybe he’s being creative
and we’ll soon be on common ground
I told myself at one time
But when it became clear
all else were not as restless
calmly going about their business
of alighting at the usual stops
I retracted into my chosen fate
All without any panic
yelling or causing of a scene
Something inside kept on
telling me to exercise my wits
Making the best out of the worst
And as the battered vehicle veered
towards the vaguely familiar
I kept hoping for a happier turn
In the long end I was disgorged
with the last bit of passengers
themselves looking somehow lost
at the far end of civilization

I serenely took all in my stride
Choosing the only road open to me
Seeking as much as possible
to dispel any semblance of being lost
Labouring up a steep climb
that culminated in a dead-end


Sharp decline into ominous forest
I stood there briefly thinking
about knaves and serial killers
Then decided to head back
Upon which moment I came across
an African man walking upwards
He was pitch dark and diffident of eye
Yet self-assured on his two feet
Seeming certain where he was going

After eliciting assurances on safety
I now set out behind his swift foot
Along winding paths in tall grasses
that disappeared under dense shadows
To ward off worrisome thoughts
I kept steady talk about his self
Not an efficient speaker of local dialects
Yes he was all the way from Maputo
Had come this way in search of work
Local women are certainly not for him
“All they want is your money, not you”
We managed even a chuckle or two

And when we reached the other side
Rigel Avenue stood starkly hissing
with usual traffic all the way beyond N1
Home was now a walkable distance off
Drunk with a sense of achievement
we stood there looking in the eye
shaking hands vigorously in quiet jubilation
Montsamaisa bosigo ke mo leboga bosele
All the way home I floated happily

Was it at the brush with the power
to reverse misfortune absolutely
Placing one’s life in hands of another
to be delivered out the quandary
Rediscovering humanity deep within

We often objectify those unlike us
Conveniently forget their humanity
Call them names and paint them black
And yet when crunch comes to crunch
they will be our saviours poor people