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Trying To Be Home

Before

February.

Trying To Be Home

Before

February.

Masingita Mzilikazi

Trying To Be Home Before February.

Lefoko La Kgosi Publishing

info@lefokolakgosi.co.za

076 162 3430

Layout and Typesetting Copyright © Lefoko La Kgosi

Cover Design Copyright © Thato Dinake, Neo Mofokeng, Nicholas Chikambvi, Khayalethu Ngoma and Lefoko La Kgosi.

Cover Photo Copyright © Popcorn & Cereal Photography

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form

or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the

author. Short extracts may be used for review

purposes. Published and printed in the Republic Of South Africa.

First edition, 2012

ISBN 978-0-620-55591-3

Copyright © Masingita Mzilikazi

www.masingitamasiya.blogspot.com

Boy Meets Girl Describing you 11

A simple equation 12

Such moments 13

Ribbon of awe 14

The first of summer mornings 15

When you smile 16

She 17

Bully 18

Your name 19

I head home 20

Beauty 21

a sound like summer 22

Depth unknown 23

Flaming arrow 24

Within your smile 25

Love Is In The Air

i looked for you 29

Possibilities 30

A lover without words 31

Come this moment 32

To, for and about but never with 33

Silently 34

...she does 35

Yours 36

Loving you 37

Occupied 38

I came 39

a moment in the life of you 40

Forever moment 41

Re-falling 43

Yours to have 44

Pieces Preface 47

Solitude altitude undermined 48

a winter sunday, today 49

Contents

The attempt at love is the witness 50

Tell me 51

Leave me now 52

Turn the page 53

Sudden departure 54

gone 55

Figment of my insanity 56

For a second, a moment 57

I found our memories 58

Missing

Missed 61

The songs of yesterday 62

Erase you 63

A memory a day 64

Awaiting more 65

100 pillows 66

On a trail 67

university of Johannesburg 68

I missed you 69

Wishing for a dream 70

Echoes through my ear 71

Fleeting images 72

Being here 73

Lonely and alone 74

Ramblings Freenote 77

Falling and taking shape 78

An incomplete poem about love 79

Love 80

a different colour 81

Utter 82

Writing. You. 83

I can’t write you a poem 84

A new persuasion 85

Trying to be home before February 86

Marry me 89

Summer-Rose, forever find breath within my verse.

Boy Meets Girl I met a girl who introduced me to the man I needed to

become.

“At some point in his life, a boy will meet a girl”. I too, met a girl. The girl I

couldn't write a poem for, but spent my life writing poems about. We met at

church, the perfect place to meet I guess. She and I were nothing alike, but

she was the one I liked. She was the uncommon girl – the girl who introduced

me to myself. It’s almost impossible to explain how it felt to be in her presence

– overwhelming to some extent, yet euphoric. It seemed I could never get my

'cues' right around her: if I wasn't smiling at all the wrong times, I was laughing

too hard too soon at everything she said. Around her I was anything but cool.

I know she considered it all cute, but many a time I walked away from her

thinking to myself: "You idiot!” Haha! Most importantly, I remember that all of

this changed me. It is crucial that every boy in his life meet a girl... It'll be the

beginning of the end of his life as a boy. ~Patamedi Jonathan Lebea

She lit a light that set fear to flight/ oh what a magnificent sight/ my eyes had

never set sight on such beauty/ drawn by her flawless smile from a mile/ I was

amazed and astonished for a while/ she moved swiftly to the sound of my

heartbeat/ the soles of her feet left an indelible footprint in my soul/ swift was

the hand that stole this heart of mine/ words could not define nor decipher

emotions that flooded my being/ I froze as those that were in my presence

faded away/ engulfed and consumed by her splendour/ her disposition

spoke perfection into existence/ she personified excellence/ bone of my

bone, a queen seated upon my heart’s throne/ a pure work of art/ God’s

divine design, I required no sign/ I knew she was meant to be mine/ she

brought time to a grinding halt and unlocked my love vault. ~Herman

Mzwandile Mashaya

Describing you

I have borrowed of mortals’ To describe your surroundings Yet to attempt a description Of your make is supernal

11

A simple equation

Your beauty

is the common denominator

of love

and life...

12

Such moments

Such moments are forgotten

when silence was resounding in pierced ears

because the mouth suddenly lost plot

and allowed the eyes to indulge

Such would be the scene

of beauty wrapped in so many words

yet few and rare expressions

watched as it unfolded.

13

Ribbon of awe

Glaze her name on sky scrapers

wrap her beauty with a ribbon of awe

evoke the sun to rise sky- and noon-high

just so that it could mirror itself against her smile

and should I die before these words get published

bury me under the gravel of her scent

let everyone's feet pick up pace to where she leads

where skies walk and roads take flight

14

The first of summer mornings

Had I a say

and the ability,

the first of summer mornings

would be birthed in your eyes

heralding the season of colour

and beauty.

15

When you smile

Careless in how you wield your weapon

You swing, slash and carve

Screaming like a woman in labour

Distilled, sweat flows from your brow

Frantic in approach

Who’s to measure how far the blade sinks?

With ears shut to any plea for help

Men suffer without a stick to clutch on to

Who’s to redeem us sons who delight in war?

A war we cannot win

War not against a military uniform

But against a daughter with an apocalyptic smile

16

She

the firmness of the grip of my heart loosened

all things firm and founded became unbound

the mystery masked in these emotions yielded

it exploded in your ears and scattered

so much said in just one word, “love"

so much withdrawn in one thought

"love" makes no sense when you think about her

she baffles all the more when in expression

i've seen matured men fold at her mention

boys glow with a naive anticipation

seasoned women have termed her a "phantom assurance"

girls boldly require her to accompany any proposal their way

she, a crayon that colours outside the lines

abides in the hearts of those who never tire

those with a thirst for battering

and a hunger for buttering

17

Bully

I am cornered because she looked my way

Concerned by the way she shapes my day

a concert of beauty that conducts my wordplay

And corrugates fear, breath and the autumn situated in May

I danced to the harmony that is the breath in her voice

It suppressed my September renderings

allowing me to hide behind the choice

to render our encounter as another of our few rememberings

18

Your name

Your name caught

in the trail of silence’s trance

where the sound of rain falling

is a direct reprimand to the parched land

weaves me along like a strand

that belongs to the cloth

of those affected by love.

Your name is adorned.

19