Poetry by Sello Huma

Remember those who transitioned in crowded rickety vessels sailing to Europe
those thousands washed by the waves of the ocean
In search of dollar and euro signs
Your transitioning lives down a scar full of questions
to the status quo

Some couldn’t face the atomic sounds of bombs and missiles
some tired of corner hunger and poverty
some torn apart by the aftermath of man-made wars
some raped, tortured and sold at the Tripoli Auction market to reach Italy
some are still missing with body parts
and some died in the bundu’
swallowed by the crocodile river
some buried alive by heavy thunderstorms of south -west
some are the stones that the builder refused
Those who transitioned in crowded rickety vessels sailing to America
in search of greener pastures
Your spirits must return home to rest
Your spirits must return home for closure
Tell the medicine men to dig up the roots
and throw down the bones
so the spirits can tell us
the kind of sacrifice they desire to return home

Those crossroads spirits of the dead migrants flowing in the mist
of the Mediterranean Sea
and wandering in the wilderness
must return home to their loved ones

What about those wailing souls captured by force
during the slave trade who jumped into the Volta for refuge
Their spirits too must be appeased and returned home
Even though we pay homage to you at any crossroads
we encounter
May your spirits fly and find their way back home someday
so we can live close with the past.

Bio
Sello Huma is a talented, versatile and musically inclined poet and lyricist whose years of experiences are focused on giving quality poems, epics and spoken songs to the public. He is based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Some of his works have appeared in new coin, Agbowo, Brittle Paper and elsewhere.