Our Children's Tears by Mgcini Nyoni

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We have grown fat

on our children’s tears

We have become rich

on our children’s blistered hands

and cracked feet

We have allowed fat men

with big stomachs

and big luxury cars

to tear our children’s hymen

and we dare ask

what’s wrong with our children

We have crammed whole families

into single rooms

and the children sleeping under the bed

can hear the parents having sex

Our children have seen

their mothers sneak in boyfriends

 as soon as the father leaves

for work at the industrial site

Our children have seen their fathers

with other men’s daughters

behind the public toilet

And we dare ask;

what’s wrong with our children?

We have given our children machetes

taught them to chant party slogans

and to clobber political opponents

and we dare ask

what’s wrong with our children

We have become rich using

dubious economic policies

that have not benefited

the ordinary man on the street

We have built beer halls

nightclubs

and taverns

In place of schools

and libraries

and we dare ask;

what’s wrong with our children?

We have grown fat

on our children’s tears…