Nomakanjani they said, always we will be
It shall be well with us
For our sons and daughters fight this evil
For our seed bleeds into the soil
Mass of bones in unknown graves
Nomakanjani they said
The fences ripped at them, as if sent by the oppressor
Their own looted their innocence, in the name of freedom fighting
they did
Masks were picked and worn to mask the pain behind
Alongside them they Toyi-toyi’d
Their insides twisted and weeping from their flippant violation
Nomakanjani they said to them
The reverberating sound of gunshots
Forever imbedded within
Waking more of them than a new-born’s cry
As if doomed to that they were
Their wombs calling out to the spilt foetuses
Dreams of suckling infants and virile husbands lost
Rummaging in the bushes for survival their present
And still all they said to them was;
Nomakanjani
Time travelled and left them behind to find their path home
Flags were raised and there was jubilation
No one bothered to ask where they were
No one asked if they were fine
No one noticed they weren’t there
But they had said always to them
Nomakanjani
She wakes up in a cold sweat
Her insides screaming
Her hands reaching for her gun
She know no one she can trust but it
The air is musty and choking
Little does she realise
She was left behind
Her shell exists in the new South Africa
Her soul still roams the trenches all torn and alone
And when she reaches for the bottle seeking solace
The labels follow her and stick
But then didn’t they say
Nomakanjani
This is from @Ntoshtoyin, dedicated to the women who left their homes and joined Umkhonto we Sizwe, women who have untold nightmares and horrors, women who were left to fend for their sanity in the new South Africa. AMANDLA #IMBOKODO
