Fate’s Friend
He had all the words he needed
But was silent face to face
Because the mind is virtually useless
When the heart begins to race.
She made his blood pump
And his hair stand straight
And he hoped and prayed they’d
End up together by fate.
But fate never worked like that
And fate wasn’t your friend
And if your relied solely on fate,
You’d meet an untimely end.
But one thing he knew how to do
Was poetry and how to write
And the words became his arsenal
As he slowly learned how to fight.
He stayed indoors and stayed warm
With pen and paper in hand.
And one day he mustered the strength
And slowly began to stand.
He felt powerful and invincible
And was basking in his glory
But when he looked up from his book
She was walking into another story.
He screamed and chased with tearful eyes
As she slowly walked out the gate.
Because while he was nose down in his book
She had made friends with fate.
Slow Poison
He felt it in his fingers
And the tip of his nose
And the lobes of his ears
And the webs of his toes.
In the saliva in his mouth
And the follicles of his hair
And the cracks of his skin
But she didn’t seem to care.
She never batted an eyelid
And left him with the pain
And left him all alone
Sitting in the rain.
She left him with the poison
But made sure it was slow
And as soon as it took effect
She would get up and go.
She’d fly away
Like a weddings white dove
Leaving him with the poison
But labelling it as love.
Self-Burial
The skies were blue
But his heart was grey
This contrasting factor
Left him with nothing to say.
The thoughts, however, flowed
Through his brain at a rapid pace,
Like “what if?” and “why me?”
Left tears rolling down his face.
They dripped to the very soil
Where the casket would lay
And he struggled and fought
To get the box to stay.
The scratches on the wood
And the thumping on the door
Left him kicking and screaming
Alone on the floor.
Tear stained eyes and pain stained situation
And the emotion of the moment
Made him lose concentration.
He was up with tears gone
And his thoughts had disappeared
And why he was crying at the burial
Was something he no longer feared.
The thoughts of a different future
Were something away he’d cast
Because he was now a stronger person
After burying himself, from the past.
© Uwais Coetzee
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Grade 12
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