You Are ~ Tevell Iyer

You are the person who laughed
at me with your friends
who called me names hours upon hours
without any end.

You are the person who brought me down
It was you who made everybody treat
me like a clown.

You hated me, that’s why
nobody could play with me
I felt lower than a cut down tree

A day would not go by
without the mirror ever seeing me cry

You had fun teasing me
but now you will pay the fee


© Tevell Iyer


***
Grade 8
***

He Has Not Aged Well ~ Nolulama Msomi

He has not aged well.
Sadness,
Lurks over him,
And comforts him like cold blanket.
His permanent scowl, frightens even the gay birds that bless every uncertain day.
Miserable can a man possibly be so?
Side by side with his dominant beloved and his taxing offspring he is distracted
Attempting to experience the feeling even his depressed heart can no longer manufacture:
Elation.
His Dreams
That drowned in a pool of sewerage and wasted talent;
Were replaced by:
Regret for the wrong path he chose.

© Nolulama Msomi

***

Grade 12

***

A Skeleton in the Floor ~ Nishka Ramkhelawan

Time's starving hand stole
your soul away from this
life quenching world.

The frame which once
held your vivacious body so
perfectly together
remains utterly
unresponsive.

You were robbed of
your time here.
And now we are
left vacant and empty
like Satan's impassive
heart.

There was once a girl
who was so vibrant.
Her powdery, pallid body
now swathes the river floor.


© Nishka Ramkhelawan


***
Matriculant 2016
***

Whenever Your Eyes Suddenly Meet Mine ~ Andiswa Gwala

Whenever your eyes suddenly meet mine
I see them sparkle like rippling water
Whenever touched by the golden rays of sunlight
The starry glow on the surface
Turns everything into perfect bliss.

Whenever your eyes suddenly meet mine
I see their shade tint like the evening sky
Whenever the sun sets at the end of the day
The transition from day to night
Gives the smallest stars their time to shine.

Whenever your eyes suddenly meet mine
I see them become smaller like flowers
Whenever the slightest bit of Autumn wind blows
Their ability to shut with the flying dust
Ensures their everlasting protection from harm.

Whenever your eyes suddenly meet mine
I see the tears drop like rain from the summer sky
Whenever evaporation is complete in the ocean
The beauty of the falling rain in cloudy atmosphere
Makes one question the workings of nature.

Whenever your eyes suddenly meet mine
I peer directly into them and
Regardless of their colour, their size and the tears
I still see them sparkle like the still waters
Whenever touched by the silver light of the moon and stars.
Why?

Because, Even in the most quiet and darkest of nights
Whenever your eyes suddenly meet mine:
         
         Your eyes still remain your eyes.


© Andiswa Gwala


***
Grade 11
***

To My Babe ~ Mangaliso Xaba

I Love you my Babe
I Love you like I’ll never Love Again.
I Love because I know with you I always got a Friend
I Love you because I know that you really Care.
I Love you because you’ve been with me through my Tarnish,
and our Love’s Chapter has been Accomplished
but yet we still together with our Love to Share.
You stood by me through pain when no one else could Bear
just to show me that you really Care.
I know that I haven’t always been Fair,
When we have our fights then you lose,
I get so thrilled because I know that I hadn’t just won the fight
But I have won a woman who truly and deeply Loves Me.
I will Love you forever, even when there’s no more beauty to See
Because I promised you on the first day, that I’ll be with you Forever
And to tell the truth, the Due Date of my promise will appear on the day we can no longer be Together,
the day one of us says Goodbye to Another
looking anxiously at the Dove’s Feathers.
Telling a Tale of: ”We meet to Part, But we Part to Meet”
 

© Mangaliso Mthandazi Xaba (Mangz Nation)


***
Grade 11
***