I have written the following poem in response to the articles and photo) on page 1 and 2 of DistrictMail & Helderberg Gazetteon Wednesday 8 February (“Spotter’s delight”, “Skote klap in strate” and “Vermeende inbreker dood in sloot gevind”).
Oh, spotter’s delight
so flamboyant and bright
How starkly you contrast
the robber’s graceless flight,
the dead man’s colourless sight,
the readers’ hopeless plight.
A colourful flock snapped during a pink parade
Flamingos a-serenade with long-legged grace
While in our unlit streets one dead, one grazed.
Staccato guns send us helpless down a maze
Where strangers with motives unexplained, silence the craze.
Tarred streets absorb blood as paper does to ink,
And rivers close in, turning the world all a-pink.
All this while in the cooling dams of the basin,
The flamingos hear not the alleged murders spoken.
Concerned only with shedding the heat of summer,
They hear not the name of their location Macassar.
A name smelling reminiscently of costly oils,
Where holy Sheikhs dwelled and shared their spoils.
Oh the beauty of the land of dunes and sand,
Will that you restore my face, my hand.
Then clad us in coats for every kind of weather,
And as birds of a feather,
we’ll flock away, together.
