Memory

When we marched - slithered - through slimy mud past riot-shielded cops in Alex, while children peered wild-eyed from dark windows, for some of us these were re-runs of earlier apartheid - burdened days: but then it was defiant resolution that drove our hearts braced our feet: now sadness at betrayal sat stone-heavy on our hearts, our shouted slogans, weighted with irony, hung heavy over us in grimy air, we winced at familiar oft-repeated lies.
April 13/14 2004
* Alex = Alexandra Township, slum in Johannesburg, 31 August, 2002