I Rise...

On Christmas day,

I stared inside a coffin,

My own.

Loved ones surrounded me,

Tears in their eyes,

Grieving.

Watching them lower the coffin,

It was a bitter-sweet moment,

Actually.

Seeing myself, outside myself.

Seeing every dream, every ideal,

Every memory.

Being lowered into a 6-foot grave.

It was over, all over.

The beautiful memories,

Of that beautiful girl,

That beautiful young woman.

They were buried on Christmas day.

As the first pile of sand was

Thrown into the grave,

I started to panic,

I felt myself suffocate.

Is it really over, it can’t just be over.

Somebody rescue me, I’m not over!

I screamed at the top of my lungs,

Begged for them to please Stop!

But I was already covered with sand,

Too deep for them to hear me.

Their cries drowned mine out,

As I screamed, and screamed & screamed.

In that frantic state, I caught a glimpse

Of a beautiful black eagle approaching

In the distance.

It flew in from the blue skies

And landed beside me.

‘Come fly with me’ it said,

‘Let’s explore the heavens together.’

An overwhelming feeling of peace

Washed over me.

I felt myself leave the grave,

Spread my wings and

Feel the wind on my back.

As we flew further into the sunset,

I looked back and in the distance saw

My loved ones,

Still crying, still grieving.

I wanted to tell them,

Don’t cry for that body laying

In that coffin,

Her time has passed,

She’s gone.

But even as she died,

I continue to live.

My pain, my suffering is

What we’re burying today.

But my spirit lives on,

and As I soar towards a new day…

New horizons, new memories await.

I will never again be as I was,

I will never again be who I was.

But as you turn your back

On this fresh grave and

The beautiful flowers on it.

Let go of the painful memory of

What brought me here.

And hold on to the beautiful spirit

Of the woman I was

When we were together.

Because although the killer

Thought it was a life that he was taking,

A life that he was ruining,

Only God gives life &

Only God can take life.

I’ve been given a second chance at life,

And like this black eagle on my back

I will rise.

I have always risen,

And will continue to rise.

Lion's Den

I walked into the lion’s den,
Hoping maybe he wasn’t hungry.
He licked his lips as I entered,
& slowly came towards me.

I’m neither naïve nor ignorant
So I already knew what's coming,
I saw his sharp yellow eyes glisten,
As he fixed his gaze towards me.

He circled me a couple of times,
Relishing the moment.
His sharp gaze burnt into my skin,
He couldn’t believe his luck.

The rest of it seemed to happen in slow motion,

As I recall, as he lunged on me,
he first went for my eyes.
Blinding me from the nightmare
That was surely about to come.

In my semi-blind state,
I felt more than I saw,
& with each bite that he took,
I knew I’d known it would end this way…

In the distance I could hear a friend shout;
‘Mbali! What are you doing?
Get the hell out of there!
He’s going to kill you!’

But what she didn’t realize,
Is that I’d made the choice to come here,
And I was going to let him have his way.
I was in the lion’s den after all,
So of course this had to happen.

He pinned my hair down with his paws,
& surprisingly I didn’t fight him.
I felt his nails slicing through my skull,
But I didn’t utter a word.

Then I felt him pause for a second,
‘What’s wrong with you’? He asked,
‘Shout, cry, scream. This is meant to hurt.’

It took all of my power to be still,
And let him have his way.

He saved my heart for last,
Hoping to devour it
As it lay bleeding & beating in his paw.


As his sharp teeth lunged
at my beating heart,
I heard a great big Howl,
And then a sharp tooth crack.

It was only then he realized,
My heart was made of stone.

I’d known that when I came here,
So I knew that I’d be fine.
He limped away into a corner,
Grabbing his bleeding jaw as he went.

I strolled out of that lion’s den,
Knowing I’d won the fight.

Like Vodka, Like Fresh Water

be it psychological, financial, substance or emotional,

i often compare abuse to heavy alcohol consumption

once you've consumed too much of it,

it's hard to tell the difference

between fresh water and vodka

if you were given fresh water,

you'd probably think its a less potent vodka

his behaviour is a typical example

of "he's too good to be true"

when all have mistreated you,

why is he being different?

if he's different and shows a sign of respect,

does that mean he's too good to be true?

it could be that, like a real scout, he can can see true potential

it could be that he thinks you deserve better,

it could be that he's "God-sent"

to make your life a bit smoother,

or he just believes in treating people fairer,

it could be that he's a "God-send"

to make you realise life is not a ferry

but just like heavy alcohol consumer, he's fresh water

she seems to think he's a less potent vodka

why is he willing to sail rough seas just to be with you?

why is he walking into a lion's den to rescue you,

when he could walk-on-by and live his life he did?

why is he treating you special, if only "okay" can do?

why is he walking into rebel's territory just to free your soul?

but again just like heavy alcohol consumer, he's fresh water

she seems to think he's less potent vodka