magic, hope and peace.
In time, we lost our innocence;
we lost our faith and the magic disappeared.
Pessimism took over -
unknowingly, we penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness.
The world's a sea of evil, or is it
our evil that's polluted the world?
Experience stole our innocence:
we saw the evil of crime;
we saw the dead or dying;
we saw the crux of hardship and deprivation.
But, that was fine, because we
held on to our dreams and faith
in something... anything better.
However, the darkness penetrated into
the roots of our lives.
Obstacles stood like barriers around every corner.
The way forward became unclear.
Our greatest dreams became
our darkest nightmares.
The pain and agony of despair
resonated through our eyes
from the depths of our souls
and God forgot we existed.
Unknowingly, we searched for some last,
dying, shred of hope in the silent void.
The pain became too much, so we forged
the happiness from the evils of the world:
we bathed it in gin and strong liquor;
we smoked and doped up in anything;
and we danced like the day was our last,
while trying to drown the sorrow and bury the pain.
We didn't know we were digging a dark hole
from which we could never escape.
We found ourselves quarrelling and killing
for the rush, or the money.
There was no wrong or right.
Innocent blood seeped through the face of the earth
and our bloodstained hands
made a mark on the earth.
The shadows of the night became
our greatest acquaintances and
we could not see the stars.
Now here we are, standing on the grounds of hell.
There's no hope and no help for us here.
We walk across the face of the earth
alive, but barely Living.
All dreams died a lifetime ago.
There is no future and no light.
There are no more tears.
So we'll just stand here in despair,
deep in the heart of darkness.
We'll stand all alone and
reach out for the hand of death.
© Nsiki Gwala
***
Grade 11
***
