{Poet’s Note : I wrote this poem for the passing of my very dear friend & comrade, Cecyl Esau, Umkhonto we Sizwe Commander in 2021, as a contribution to his memorial service. Cecyl was given a full Provincial Military Official Funeral. Though the reading was filmed & recorded as part of the proceedings, I recently kept dreaming about Cecyl. I realised that he wanted me to post the poem here. So now I am doing just that, with my love for him, & trust it will be found by some of the soldiers he commanded, who are still living. Cecyl was sentenced for 12yrs imprisonment on Robben Island for his political cum military activity. He later joined the Institute of Justice & Reconciliation, continuing to strengthen Democracy in South Africa, before his passing }
CECYL : SON OF OUR SOIL : CONSUMMATE REVOLUTIONARY
U stood there
Magnetic
our sacred Cause ingrained
in your palms
expecting nothing but
what a moment would bring
......
THE ÉCHO RETURNS NOT
[ Poet’s note : SOLOMON MAHLANGU was a South African Freedom fighter & cherished leader in revolutionary army, Umkhonto we Sizwe. He was sentenced to death by hanging, by the Apartheid Government on 2 March 1978 & hung on 6 April 1979. Though he was not actually the cadre who pulled a trigger killing two civilians, the Prosecution argued that under the Law of Common Purpose, Mahlangu shared intent with the cadré who pulled the trigger ]
Four decades and six years have passed
at 7.00am
in sweaty coffee plantation not far from Camp 13 I cried and
cried
......
{Poet’s Note : I wrote this poem for the passing of my very dear friend & comrade, Cecyl Esau, Umkhonto we Sizwe Commander in 2021, as a contribution to his memorial service. Cecyl was given a full Provincial Military Official Funeral. Though the reading was filmed & recorded as part of the proceedings, I recently kept dreaming about Cecyl. I realised that he wanted me to post the poem here. So now I am doing just that, with my love for him, & trust it will be found by some of the soldiers he commanded, who are still living. Cecyl was sentenced for 12yrs imprisonment on Robben Island for his political cum military activity. He later joined the Institute of Justice & Reconciliation, continuing to strengthen Democracy in South Africa, before his passing }
CECYL : SON OF OUR SOIL : CONSUMMATE REVOLUTIONARY
U stood there
Magnetic
our sacred Cause ingrained
in your palms
expecting nothing but
what a moment would bring
......
THE ÉCHO RETURNS NOT
[ Poet’s note : SOLOMON MAHLANGU was a South African Freedom fighter & cherished leader in revolutionary army, Umkhonto we Sizwe. He was sentenced to death by hanging, by the Apartheid Government on 2 March 1978 & hung on 6 April 1979. Though he was not actually the cadre who pulled a trigger killing two civilians, the Prosecution argued that under the Law of Common Purpose, Mahlangu shared intent with the cadré who pulled the trigger ]
Four decades and six years have passed
at 7.00am
in sweaty coffee plantation not far from Camp 13 I cried and
cried
......