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JABULANI MZINYATHI
ZIMBABWEAN NATIONAL
BORN IN ZIMBABWE
MAGISTRATES COURT
BOX 124
MASVINGO
ZIMBABWE
jabumzi@gmail.com
0026339261388
1. Veiled eyes
Having gobbled the putrid diet
The diet of befuddling religions
Having swallowed hook, line and sinker
The gospel of apostasy
Now with their warped minds
They denigrate themselves unwittingly
Enveloped by the darkness of foolishness
The essence of our ways is warped
Labelling our ways ancestral worship
Conveniently forgetting our intercessors
Hacking at the roots of our confidence
Defiling all our sacrosanct shrines
But the resilience is plain to see
2. African drum
The demonised drum
Speaks to my soul
Soothing my african soul
Sweetly caressing it
Invoking those spirits
The restless spirits of my people
Hot iron branded pagan
Those that dangled at noosed ends
Reverberations of the drum
Spelling out my happiness
At times messages of strife
The demonised drum
3. Africa day reflections
Behind it all
Our unmistakeable resilience
The abundance of hope
For we are no pessimists
The reality plain to see
Profusely bleeding Africa
Fires of discord fanned
The beneficiaries in glee
Robbed of childhood
Playing fields bereft of children
High on lsd, heroin, mandrax
Raping, robbing, killing with impunity
The hidden hand at it
Propping unpopular regimes
The ever widening chasms
Bickering over foreign ideas
Africa bleeding profusely
Somewhere they drink the blood
The prophets long said it
‘The richest place, home to the poorest race’
In Somalia. Sudan, Ethiopia
Everywhere the bloody feuding
The scramble for blood diamonds
Everywhere death and destruction
Beneath all this desolation
The undying hope sprouting
4. Daggers drawn
God is out of it
Watching isms and schisms centre stage
There in the spotlight
Taking precedence
Protestant god at it
Catholic god at it
Fanning fires of division
Papal infallibility questioned
New paths charted
Lessons of love abandoned
Gods of petrol bombs worshipped
Gods of missiles praised
That is the essence
Fighting to please a peace loving god
Killing in the name of god
Did god make man in his image
Is man making god in his image
The emptiness of it plain to see
The bottomless pit of doctrines
5. Chasms
How to build bridges
To bridge the chasms
The spiritual emptiness
That my people cling to
Divided by alien religions
Praying to deaf gods
How to bridge the chasms
My people locked in combat
Incessantly butchering each other
Divided into christians and moslems
Defending the spiritual emptiness
How to bridge the chasms
Dividing my people still
Francophone, anglophone, lusophone
Foreign ideas held supreme
Still locked in deadly combat
Elsewhere they reap the benefits
6. Caution
What warped nationalism is this
What warped Pan Africanism is this
Pretending to fight imperialism
By night selling the sacred inheritance
Betraying those bones not yet interred
Betraying that blood not yet dry
Keeping fellow citizens in chains
The chains of fear and poverty
Holding out trinkets to sycophants
And the ubiquitous opportunists
I reject this blind Pan Africanism
Clapping and ululating to aid violence
Now in the vortex of violence
Aiding fratricide, matricide, patricide
To spite the enslavers, colonisers, imperialists
See they hide behind revolutionary rhetoric
Their deception is destined for the dung heap
7. Reality check
The truth shall set you free
The preacher man said so
The politician took to the podium
The claim: his word was the truth
Then I saw images of freedom
On the streets I saw the squalor
The politician’s bin full of left overs
Then he sped past in imported cars
Then I remembered his word
The preacher man’s word I recalled
Now is the time for truth
Bound in shackles and chains
Then thrown into the dungeons
The penalty for truth is death
8. Triumph
The dropping bombs
Bombs of propaganda
Bombarding my brain paths
All these gods
Seeking to cage my mind
Weaving their webs
Torrents of religions
Seeking to drown my soul
The din of futility
The vibrancy of my roots
Repelling their machinations
The din of triumph
9. Burial
Tug of war
Dead body- the rope
Vultures feast
At the centre the carrion
The priest armed with hell
The dead body- a pulpit
With putrid speech – the politician
The dead body –a podium
Liars not to be outdone
Even the wicked are saintly
10. Dreams
Bereft of dreams
Dreams bashed by truncheons
Dreams under jackboots
Jackboots of the philistines
Dreams in solitary confinement
Dreams whimpering for freedom
That is the healing of my nation

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Jabulani mzinyathi ten selected poems

  • 1. JABULANI MZINYATHI ZIMBABWEAN NATIONAL BORN IN ZIMBABWE MAGISTRATES COURT BOX 124 MASVINGO ZIMBABWE jabumzi@gmail.com 0026339261388
  • 2. 1. Veiled eyes Having gobbled the putrid diet The diet of befuddling religions Having swallowed hook, line and sinker
  • 3. The gospel of apostasy Now with their warped minds They denigrate themselves unwittingly Enveloped by the darkness of foolishness The essence of our ways is warped Labelling our ways ancestral worship Conveniently forgetting our intercessors Hacking at the roots of our confidence Defiling all our sacrosanct shrines But the resilience is plain to see 2. African drum The demonised drum Speaks to my soul Soothing my african soul Sweetly caressing it Invoking those spirits The restless spirits of my people Hot iron branded pagan Those that dangled at noosed ends Reverberations of the drum Spelling out my happiness At times messages of strife
  • 4. The demonised drum 3. Africa day reflections Behind it all Our unmistakeable resilience The abundance of hope For we are no pessimists The reality plain to see Profusely bleeding Africa Fires of discord fanned The beneficiaries in glee Robbed of childhood Playing fields bereft of children High on lsd, heroin, mandrax Raping, robbing, killing with impunity The hidden hand at it Propping unpopular regimes The ever widening chasms Bickering over foreign ideas
  • 5. Africa bleeding profusely Somewhere they drink the blood The prophets long said it ‘The richest place, home to the poorest race’ In Somalia. Sudan, Ethiopia Everywhere the bloody feuding The scramble for blood diamonds Everywhere death and destruction Beneath all this desolation The undying hope sprouting 4. Daggers drawn God is out of it Watching isms and schisms centre stage There in the spotlight Taking precedence Protestant god at it Catholic god at it Fanning fires of division Papal infallibility questioned
  • 6. New paths charted Lessons of love abandoned Gods of petrol bombs worshipped Gods of missiles praised That is the essence Fighting to please a peace loving god Killing in the name of god Did god make man in his image Is man making god in his image The emptiness of it plain to see The bottomless pit of doctrines 5. Chasms How to build bridges To bridge the chasms The spiritual emptiness That my people cling to Divided by alien religions Praying to deaf gods How to bridge the chasms My people locked in combat Incessantly butchering each other Divided into christians and moslems
  • 7. Defending the spiritual emptiness How to bridge the chasms Dividing my people still Francophone, anglophone, lusophone Foreign ideas held supreme Still locked in deadly combat Elsewhere they reap the benefits 6. Caution What warped nationalism is this What warped Pan Africanism is this Pretending to fight imperialism By night selling the sacred inheritance Betraying those bones not yet interred Betraying that blood not yet dry Keeping fellow citizens in chains The chains of fear and poverty Holding out trinkets to sycophants And the ubiquitous opportunists I reject this blind Pan Africanism Clapping and ululating to aid violence Now in the vortex of violence Aiding fratricide, matricide, patricide To spite the enslavers, colonisers, imperialists See they hide behind revolutionary rhetoric
  • 8. Their deception is destined for the dung heap 7. Reality check The truth shall set you free The preacher man said so The politician took to the podium The claim: his word was the truth Then I saw images of freedom On the streets I saw the squalor The politician’s bin full of left overs Then he sped past in imported cars Then I remembered his word The preacher man’s word I recalled Now is the time for truth Bound in shackles and chains Then thrown into the dungeons The penalty for truth is death 8. Triumph The dropping bombs Bombs of propaganda Bombarding my brain paths All these gods
  • 9. Seeking to cage my mind Weaving their webs Torrents of religions Seeking to drown my soul The din of futility The vibrancy of my roots Repelling their machinations The din of triumph 9. Burial Tug of war Dead body- the rope Vultures feast At the centre the carrion The priest armed with hell The dead body- a pulpit With putrid speech – the politician The dead body –a podium Liars not to be outdone Even the wicked are saintly
  • 10. 10. Dreams Bereft of dreams Dreams bashed by truncheons Dreams under jackboots Jackboots of the philistines Dreams in solitary confinement Dreams whimpering for freedom That is the healing of my nation