See Me ~ Amahle Njilo

 

See me as XL.

 

They tell me I’m too free

Too free to be in South Africa

Too free to be a black young woman in South Africa

They tell me that they see me, they watch me.

Every waking moment I await to hear

Of another 16 year- old girl

Probably raped by her dad

Who has lost all hope for her future

And see me gliding across the room

With glinting eyes that still shimmer with hope

A hope that is never lasting

For an attack that is everlasting

And twitter tells me that stretch marks are now in style

So I stand in front of the mirror to check I still have some

And stare wearily at the person that I think I’ve become

Yet, I tell him every day, I thank him everyday

I make sure he sees his heart in me every day, his love in me everyday

And surely he isn’t real but I have to prepare because he is always watching

And see me walking home after school and hearing them whistle

And seeing the sinister lust in his eyes

See my spine shiver as I hear his name for me, making me doubt my own name

And standing in the middle of the street, stranger danger

To check if everyone can see what is happening

But realising that everyone thinks it’s a norm

Because a man always has to show his appreciation for what he sees.

And a well-rounded lady is what every African man needs.

Yet, my mother, she frets for me

She sees this young insecure girl, who thinks she is never going to make it

She is sure that she will make it

But she is afraid

Afraid that surely my boyfriend will come to our house someday and ask to help carry her groceries

And hope entirely, that he is the best boyfriend for me

But surely it will scar him to know that his love was never a part of me,

It was never linked to me because his addiction was never my addiction,

I’m entitled to sobriety.

 

See me as XS.

 

And this sobriety that can never be undone

Because when push comes to shove, I am every girl’s dream

And this time, he loves me more than ever

He said it, so I believe him.

Yet, I still feel empty on the inside, like something is missing

As he put me to sobriety when he held me down and fulfilled his sore desire

See me scream as he carries on, as if my screams are not heard

I’m the perfect type, for everyone, but that’s what is needed, right?

Because if he does not like me and if they do not like me, then what?

And see the different groups watch me with envy whenever I wear my miniskirt

They think I’m overdoing it but it shouldn’t matter

Because I think I know why I’m doing this

They see me, they watch me.

And see me hope and pray that I don’t turn into Miss Pizza Face anytime soon

Because everybody knows fresh is better

And on Instagram I almost have 5000 followers, which is pretty good

Considering I’m only 16.

And see my mother’s worried look

Because she thinks I’ve gone too far, she doesn’t know me anymore

She prays to see me walking with a nice boy who probably wears glasses

Who asks her, begs her, to help carry the groceries

So that I can see the he is the perfect guy for me,

Instead of the car I’m always dropped out of because she stopped fetching me from school

Because I told her, I could handle it.

 

See us united.

 

And see us smile and hope for the future

A future that probably never existed

A future that we think is okay.

See us walk with pride in streets that are filled with barbarians that we call our brothers

Because maybe, we are too free to be in South Africa

Maybe we are too free to be black, young women in South Africa

And maybe those are just our lives.

Amahle Njilo

***

Grade 10

***

I'm Still Standing ~ Mfezi Sibisi

 Despite your continuous effort to end me i'm as alive as can be , despite your over usage of my amenities and your depletion of my resources i am still active in my existence tending to those you injure in your devious process or attempt to dominate me .

I have made efforts to retaliate but you continuously defy me. The anguish you have caused amongst my residence cannot compare to the agony you will face if your defiance of my laws is a road you are not willing to cut off. Your animosity shall not go unpunished as you continuously ignore my mercenaries amongst you which was my last attempt for peace. Till your species is extinct i shall not me be at rest.

As the impulse to do the right thing is imbedded in every single one of you , yet you choose not only to ignore it but you do the exact opposite , i am far from disappointed i'm neck deep in rage. Mhh man-kind what irony, though i admit there are some decent souls amongst you , there simply aren't enough for the word kind to be situated adjacent to man.

I haven't much to say accept if you deem it fit to defy your co-creator i personally do not see the positivity in your existence .

[Unedited]

© Mfezi Sibisi

***

Grade 10

***

A Disappointed Mother ~ Mfezi Sibisi

 I've seen tons of organisms come and go but none like this species, i'm quite proud that my climate gave birth to such smart creatures or better yet provided the preferred sustenance for such a marvelous race of unified organisms.

Throughout the love i disperse amongst my organic children there are none i value more than humanity , allase humanity does not value me . I'm afraid i've let humanity suck on my nourishing teat of life for too long , "i've corrupted them"

I provided too much of a sanctuary for them gleaming with an array of resources fit for the gods (meaning gold and diamonds end product -"jewellery"),they've taken advantage . As the parent of this race i blame myself for their actions as i am the catalyst who favored them overall my children hoping they would bring peace among my continuously conflicted kids but now i've come to realise i was sorely mistaken , (sigh) i have a co-ordinated monster "who will eventually become the death of me.

[Unedited]

© Mfezi Sibisi

***

Grade 10

***

You Are Golden ~ Marlize van der Merwe

My heart, my kindness things that are righteous
I write this poem to you, I hope that you like it.
Kissing your lips, holding your hand
You've made this broken guy into a once again wholesome man
You're sweet and kind
You're that sweetheart of mine
Like a brain tumor baby you stay on my mind.
I love hearing you laugh and seeing you smile
You've made me feel what I haven't felt in a while
Loved and appreciated
Thank you Baby I appreciate it!
This may be just the beginning I'm hoping it won't end
Thank you for keeping it real showing me others were pretend
If you need a hand baby both arms to you I will lend, extend
You're my love, my boo, my best friend
For you I am grateful
I'm hungry for your kisses
Your lips are so tasteful
What you bring to the table sure is a plate full
When it comes to your heart I sure am not playful
I will not toy with your emotions
Because Honey you fill up my world like the Oceans.


© Marlize van der Merwe

***
Grade 10
***

When I First Met You ~ Marlize van der Merwe

When I first met you,
I was all in a trance,
I told you my secrets,
you told me yours.

I bet you thought I'd never love you,,
who would have thought.
We would be more than just friends,
I got to know the real person you.

A soul so caring, a soul so dear,
with a heart so true, your love so pure.
You are the wings that fly me to the moon,
I'll never leave, I'll rather stay,

Because of the feelings, I have for you.
You're my shining star, in life's blue sky,
and sometimes, I wonder, is this all so true?

So I've decided,
time will tell.
If we're to be,
Time will reveal, what lies ahead.

But always remember,
what I am saying.
Meeting you, has changed my life,
I truly love you.

the feelings I feel, I feel for you,
I'll never let you go.
I need you so,
you'll always be
the one for me.


© Marlize van der Merwe

***
Grade 10
***

She was Special ~ Muhammad Vawda

She had a bad past,
Faults that no one liked
Mistakes that she couldn’t fix,
Yet he still fell in love with her;

Her heart was big,
Bigger than thee ocean
Her words were sweet,
Sweeter than honey

Her smile was broad,
Broader than hips
Her face shone bright,
Brighter than a full moon.

©  Muhammad Vawda

***
Grade 10
***

Rough Copy ~ Uwais Coetzee

You were my final draft.
The one I wanted to keep
and show people that I could do something
with this life of mine.
So I gave my life to you,
handed in my final to be marked
and to be told whether I passed or failed,
got you or lost you.
You were all I had to show my life's meaning.
You were my final draft.
But I was only a rough copy to you.
To he thrown in the trash when you were done,
and you could find your final.
To me you were as beautiful as the falling snow
But one day you said "Okay I'm done now,
you may go."

© Uwais Coetzee

***
Grade 10
***

My Boat ~ Uwais Coetzee

Life is an ocean,
a relentless sea.
All people are in it,
including you and me.
Some people will float.
Some will sink.
To survive in the sea of life,
You will have to think.
Survive and be smart,
go with the flow.
Follow life's waves
and as people we'll grow.
Our past is our boat,
It determines where we go.
Our mistakes are the sails.
Will you go fast or go slow ?
We float through life
On the boats of our past
Not knowing where to go
How long will we last ?
Be in control of your life ,
Make sure to be fast.
If life is a boat, be the captain
Standing at the main mast.


©  Uwais Coetzee

***
Grade 10
***

Conversations Alone ~ Uwais Coetzee

Screaming and yelling,
All we did was fight,
No truth telling.
You threatened to leave tonight.
I convinced you to stay
to stay with me,
I couldn't lose you today,
I'm weak, you see.
I can't handle your loss
I need to persist
because me without you is like a pond without moss,
They don't exist.
Whenever we fight,
It's always because of me,
I don't treat you right
and that's wrong , you see.
I claim to have might,
but really I'm weak,
You're leaving tonight
and that thought has me bleak.
I didn't treat you right.
You left to find your rightful throne.
Now I'm standing here talking.
Conversations Alone.

©  Uwais Coetzee

***
Grade 10
***

Not Yet ~ Uwais Coetzee

I heard about the accident
before I went to bed,
about how the car looked
as it was dripping red.
It was a ten car pileup
on highway 93,
and from all those people
the one who pulled her out was me.
Out of all the bones in her body
she'd broken 45.
The doctor came out looking grim and said
"By tomorrow she won't be alive."
I couldn't believe what I heard
or what the doctor had said
I needed to be with her and
sit next to her bed.
I sat by her bed
and watched her sleep
and by 7 a.m.
I heard the long beep.
We prepared the funeral
to lay her down to rest.
I thought about my life
and how it was a mess.
It was a funeral
that nobody wanted to miss.
We stood up one by one,
to each give a kiss.
I stood up and
kissed her forehead.
But as I leaned in she whispered
"Save me, I'm not dead."                      


©  Uwais Coetzee

***
Grade 10
***

Music of Life ~ Uwais Coetzee

If our lives were a record,

How would yours sound ?

Would I listen to it and get bored ?

Or be surprised by what I found ?

Would you enjoy your song ?

Played on the record player of life,

Repeatedly played on and on 

Replaying every strife.

Would you be shocked 

by what you tried to hide ?

That the door was locked 

when you tried to sneak back inside.

That you found that girl to be pretty,

but the conversation was a bore 

and when she hugged you goodbye you thought she was 'silly'

Because you wanted 'more'.

Had you the option to play your life out loud

on a record player today

in front of people in a crowd ,

would that be okay ?

Be happy about what you've accomplished

yesterday or today.

Be proud of your life and make it something

that you'd be proud to play.

© Uwais Coetzee

***

Grade 10

***

Love ~ Uwais Coetzee

The love inside is hard to describe.
It's difficult to wrap around my mind.
In my mind you wouldn't understand,
But in my heart love you would find.
Love for life and love for death,
Love for the sweetness of your breath.
Love for the song that the blackbird cries
and love for the ocean inside your eyes.
Love for the sky that is so wide,
love for love itself is hard to hide.
Love for our future in anticipation,
love in the present in expectation,
that love will be here
and we don't need to fear,
For in our future, present and past
My love for you has always been vast.


©  Uwais Coetzee 

***
Grade 10
***

Unknowns ~ Uwais Coetzee

In the crowd of a thousand people

I saw you.

Our eyes met and then and there 

I knew my love was true.

My gaze never dropped

from that deep ocean blue,

and that's when I knew,

I had to know you.

I walked right up 

and started a conversation

in my body before 

had I never felt this sensation.

We started to know each other,

our relationship had grown,

I spoke to you because I noticed you

In a sea of floating unknowns.

©  Uwais Coetzee

***

Grade 10

***

Sonnet 1, "Everything" ~ Uwais Coetzee

Everything of mine belongs to you.

My soul and mind are in your possession

More than once have I made this confession

My love is more vast than the sky is blue

You stuck my heart back together, like glue

These words I wrote down are filled with regret,

Because these words and your ears have not met

My courage is gone when I meet with you.

If only love, with your eyes you could see

If love were visible, you'd be bare

I know how you feel, you do not love me

Although you know I love you , you don't care.

You, alone are everything to me ,

But you found your everything elsewhere.

©  Uwais Coetzee


***
Grade 10
***

To Be ~ Uwais Coetzee

You and I were meant to be ,
'To love and to hold'
'Till death do us part' I always used to think.
I loved you with every bone in my body
Every organ , every limb
But every time I looked at you ,
You looked at him.
Everything broke within me,
Shattered like glass
I thought 'How could you do this?'
'Do this to me?'
I thought all rivers made it back to the sea.
I was lost, I was gone,
I didn't know what to do.
Didn't know if I wanted to see next week
Or even tomorrow.
People say follow your heart
But if it's broken , which piece do you follow ?


©  Uwais Coetzee

***
Grade 10
***

Dead ~ Uwais Coetzee

I let my feelings out
Let out all things from inside
Told you everything
My feelings no longer wanted to hide,
Although you could not listen
I still continued to speak
Spilled out everything
Like the dam wall of my heart had a leak.
Right next to you I did kneel
With tears flowing from my eyes
But now it was the time
To say our final goodbyes.
The wood began to creak
As they carried you away
The saddest day of my life
Was your funeral day.
They tapped me on the shoulder
And said "It's time to go",
I looked at them with eyes all red
And said with pain "I know".
The coffin began to lower
As they lay you down to rest
And in every single one of the speeches
They said you were one of the best.
I thought about the tears that flowed
I couldn't keep that thought at bay.
The saddest day of my life
Was your funeral day.

©  Uwais Coetzee

***
Grade 10
***

I Am Me ~ Uwais Coetzee

I am who I am
My thoughts flow like the River Nile
Through the vast maze of my mind
The magical abyss that I is my soul
As deep as the oceans that gill up our world
Are my thoughts,
My feelings,
My innermost feelings,
Writing the eternal test of life
Without knowing what to study
Each day is a challenge,
A new puzzle,
In this eternal labyrinth
Not knowing the end from the start,
Left from right
Life has made me who I am
The challenges have shaped me,
Moulded me into myself
Each day brought a key to be opened
Without giving me the key,
They made me who I am,
I am me.


©  Uwais Coetzee


***
Grade 10
***

Silence ~ Uwais Coetzee

She told me a story
Without saying a word,
Without uttering a sound,
The room was silent.
No mouth was open,
All words were left unspoken
And yet a story was told
In the blink of an eye,
The tick of a clock
A story as long as any other
She said how she grew up
Without her mother
How she went to school
Without having slept a wink
Because her life at home
Was pushing her to the brink
Over the edge she wanted to slip
To slip into nothingness,
But she didn't give up,
For the sake of her life
She pushed on, persevered
In her never-ending strife.
She said all this without saying a word.
All this was said with silence all around.
This was said when she walked down the aisle,
Walking to me.
With her eyes alone she told me the story
About her past and how now the caged bird is free
And we should all know how powerful the silence can be.


©  Uwais Coetzee


***
Grade 10
***

The Beginning of the End ~ Uwais Coetzee

The varnished wood gleamed
As if to mock me it seemed
The end was here but I was not crying
No tears flowed from my closed eyes,
But I could see everything
The clothes, the people,
Their faces,
Their tears.
Flowing for me.
The casket lay open so they could see
And people saying, with tears in their eyes
"He's going to a better place"
"He's free"
From this hell on Earth
It didn't even matter that I had finished school,
Or got the highest degree
Today is the beginning of the end,
It's the end for me.


©  Uwais Coetzee

***
Grade 10
***

Immune ~ Uwais Coetzee

Love, hate,
Fear and pain
All emotion is, is a burden
on people who just want to live their lives
Without the struggles of the common man.
Be yourself, nobody else
Be a you fan
They destroy your heart
Like the lands and erosion
Be like ice, be cold,
Be immune to emotion.


©  Uwais Coetzee

***
Grade 10
***