Poems of Thobile Maso
Absence of Hope
A poem by Thobile Maso©2002 Thobile Maso
How people come to accept hopelessness
Gangs are normal
Taxi that make a noise with 132 decibel ghetto – blaster
Waking up children and depriving their tired mothers of rest
We do not care, that is how we areIt sounds a normal state of affairs! Doesn’t?
The place where women bear their babies
Resignedly and bury them as they die
Where women sit and drink their weak tea
Rejoice when the stale bread has a bit of fat to put on
Having some to fill partially hungry tummies of young ones
Where women sit till late at night waiting for men to come home
Praying to God that a penny or two of the week wages has escape the bar
His mood is not of such anger that violence is inevitableHoping against hope!
Where the women stand in queues for welfare
Swallowing the abuse of the officials who have forgotten what is to be poor
Extreme poverty that destroys hope
The absence of hope and vision, the death spirit follows
Breaking the frames of silence, myths and subordination
Sources of hope, spaces for dreaming, creating a shared vision
Turning the hope into active virtue!
Poems of Thobile Maso..........a selection