Speakspace: Poetry from South Africa

 Two poems by Lebogang  Mashile, one of South Africa's most beloved poets.

Sonatina Mendes

                                             You and I 


You and I
We are the keepers of dreams
We mould them into light beams
And weave them into life's seams

You and I
Know life is not what it seems
We strip the fat from the lean
And find the facts in between
The visions we redeem
And the agony of choice
Yours is just a mind 
And mine,just a voice
But when we love
We love with a heat that rises like a song in flight
On the flesh of our backs
If it's love that we lack
Then we walk through indescision fading in fright
We ride the crest of intuition on the journey of this life

And by the hands of the infinite we hear the cries of rest
Weighed down by their intelligence submitting to this test
But you and I 
Push the boundary of reason
You and I 
Plot the mystery of seasons

You and I 
Paint this history to free men
Nothing can be stopped like you and I 

You and I
 We are the keepers of dreams 
We mould them into light beams
And weave them into life's seams

Still from the film "Cries and Whispers" by Ingmar Bergman

The green of words


I hear the sound of my mind
In darkness peppered with oceanic rumbles
Deeper than history
Lighter than air

An awakened mind is the thief of my sleep
I yawn,
Shake off the dust of ''slam poetry'' expectations
And relive the green of words
Where the world is no obstacle to my desire

The bold quiet honours me as midwife to poetry
Unpretentious
Unrelenting
Unexpected
Interpretations of the sliced days
That pass through this body

The dangerous safety of lined paper beckons
I hear myself respond
Seduced by the storyteller
I am inspiration