Garth Rakumakoe

The Tele-visions In Their Televisions

For the tele-visions in their televisions

we gave the shirts off our backs

and traversed into that sunset

of a never ending night-time

neither of us have yet to return from

of native echoes long lost

with the mutters to their songs

of who they once were

and the empty cattle kraals heralding

herds traded for false reflections

that since followed the sun

to its eternal slumber

 

The ashes of the dead campfire

ponder the return of the nomad

who left awander in seek

of the oasis that once germinated

the very roots of his being

and the wisdom of his elders

 

If only we could learn to read

and follow the stars

like we did before, surely

the cradle still longs our rebirth

Awaiting that reclamation, longing

our own homecoming

Surely then, the night

will abandon these tele-visions

and greet the sun again, to become

our eternal compass

and timekeeper