umhlaba (k)awunoni

The earth does not grow fat. It eats and eats and eats, young and old, men and women, great and small.

It has eaten brothers and fathers, sisters and friends and colleagues and mothers. It has eaten whole nations, and yet it does not grow fat.

Just once, I wish that the earth would say:

“I have eaten enough. Feed me no more of your great ones, your wicked and your saintly, your funny and your stern ones.”

The earth will not grow fat, not even from receiving one as great as you, Tata.

May you go gently to join the great and the powerful among the amadlozi, ukuze usidloze ngezandla zakho ezibunjwa yinhlabathi yesizwe sethu, ngesikhathi sesidingo nakusona senjabulo. Siyakukhumbula, Baba. Lala ngoxolo.