#PoeticLicence: Mere humans - we are not strong enough to tear limbs from bodies that are bigger than our own

Rabbie Serumula, author, award-winning poet and former journalist. Picture: Nokuthula Mbatha

Rabbie Serumula, author, award-winning poet and former journalist. Picture: Nokuthula Mbatha

Published Aug 16, 2020

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From wherever you may find yourself reading this, you too need to believe in PERFECT TIMING.

From whatever higher power you believe in, wherever you find yourself is where you are supposed to be.

To the over 100 abandoned babies in Gauteng hospitals; if ever there was anything you need to remember, it is that children don’t come from us. They come through us.

You were supposed to be here.

You have made it into this hellhole - welcome.

People are selfish here.

We all put ourselves first here.

You have hit the ground on your first trust fall.

Before even opening your eyes, focusing only eight to twelve inches from your face - and only see black, white and gray - you have seen the thickness of blood.

It gets tricky when you compare it with that of water.

That tree bares no fruits, sometimes. This is how the sun shines here, sometimes.

But be careful, dear children, not to judge your parents too harshly.

We are nothing but mere humans with more flaws than errors - the errors are plenty.

So conceited, even if our success comes as a coincidence, we will believe that we did it ourselves.

Mere humans - we are not strong enough to tear limbs from bodies that are bigger than our own.

Mere humans - even with our ultimate 20/20 vision, we can never see the ultra-violet spectrum, or a mouse at a hundred meters. You will understand soon, dear children, that 20/20 vision is mediocre.

Maybe you expect too much from us.

Apart from you coming into this place of misery through us, we do not know more than you do.

We only know enough to survive. We have only been here longer.

Perhaps perfect timing is both a gift and a curse.

We are mere humans that struggle to accept that life is unfair toward us.

But dear children, don’t be amazed at the ease of it not being a problem if life is unfair to others.

Your mothers; widows of breathing kids in other parents arms,

are undocumented migrants. They are teenagers fearful of their parents.

Your mothers have no financial and emotional support from your fathers.

Pregnancies you came from were unwanted or unplanned.

These are the possibilities.

If you ever forget that you don’t come from us, but through us, REMEMBER THIS;

You are not a number. For all the darkness here, equal light exists. We are also capable of loving, here.

We harness light here. We learn to truly love beyond flaws or errors. Even when the errors are plenty.

We find our soul-mates in this hellhole.

Your presence here came at a PERFECT TIMING. You will grow to choose if it was a blessing or a curse.

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poetry