Shallow beginnings at the deep end Memories of a childhood on the outskirts of the Transkei flood her mind How did she grow up so quickly? She asks herself wondering, was it not just the other day? Her mother in her red and white regalia made a habit of taking her to church to pray Every obstacle in life weathered her faith away, her spirit now turned blind The bottle has replaced her need to kneel down and talk to the father up above and say Let this that is come to pass, for I know that it is not here to stay Every morning she beats the sunrise to stand in a queue for work Every afternoon her heart sinks in disbelief as she drags her feet back Her ankles swollen, on the way she mulls a means of getting through the night Her belly growing by the day, a life moves inside it and she knows it isn’t right She mutters vile words to herself cursing the misfortune that is life Her means to sustenance have rewarded her with yet more reason for strife She feels love for the child that is yet to be, she struggles to accept it The only way she can end the hunger pangs, the only thing she knows best She finds her regular place of business already occupied This has been her vocation since boarding that god forsaken bus It was ages ago when she came to the city, escaping a life of poverty and strife Struggle is relative, it seems apt that even way before this her name Nontsokolo was given Was she cursed at birth by her own flesh and blood, to live in poverty for eternity? A car pulls up infront of her, she leans on the window smiling and names her price The irony that the cost for her is more than her life, the life growing inside her suffers in silence Yesterday the nurse told her that she was ailing, she feels fine and wonders why though Her means to life has become the same reason she is about to lose her life too
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 10:37:11 +0000
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