Poetry on and about the South African Situation. METAPHYSICS ROMANCE
By N.K.Mopp 🇿🇦

Foreword:

The poems on the South African situation, generally, are Sociopolitical in nature, and reflect my experiences in my country as it moved from the Dictatorship of Apartheid to the current Democratic political dispensation.

THE SILENT RAGE

“The Silent Rage” was written in 1992, a year in South African history characterized by social violence and community uproar. The oppressed South African people were filled with anger and the desperate struggle against Apartheid was threatening to become a full blown war. The poem deals with rage, the stage after anger and preceding violence. It is about individual rage, and collectively, the rage of the community.

The poem takes you through a simulation of a war, starting with a build up and ending in it’s possible after effects. It is written in two voices separated by a coma, almost like two groups at war separated only by an invisible pause. War has always been the natural way to rectify indifference. South Africa has evolved beyond the laws of nature, becoming a brave nation of pioneers. Whether we have made the right choice the future alone can tell, this poem examines the road not taken.

THE SILENT RAGE

When first the warning signals fired , the tribal war

Tambourine and bamboo drums , they talk no more

Sixteen figures rise to combat , a fallen shell

There’s another Haley’s comet , the roots of hell

When firstmy country moves to warfare , the silent rage

Caught inside the hearts of each man , the final page

Safe the future in our hands , celestial laughter

Rage within the hidden towers , we scream for after

Scared by every passing comment , the futures hidden

Reaching for the answers pleading , the unforgiven

Violence in the urban shelters , my hands cant reach

Praying for the end of hatred , the words to teach

Reaching for the answers falling , the silent rage

Handles cartridge shells are roaring , plutonium age

Far beyond the festering fields , the beat of mourning

Risen from it’s deadly sleep , the day is dawning

Mushrooms sprouting in intent , the summer’s come

Windows doors and gates grow wider , the worst is gone

Flowers blossom past the bones , they try to reach

Children walking through the ashes , what do wr teach

Scratching through the ash of anger , their world’s a cage

Nothing can prevent more bloodshed , their Silent Rage.