Dai Ndiri Shiri by Mgcini Nyoni

Model - Mary Kapumha

Dai ndiri shiri*

ndaibhururuka**

To a place peaceful

a place of still waters

and peaceful  dreams

Dai ndiri shiri

I would fly

to the place

where maidens

dance in the rain

and there is

always a pot

of gold

at the end

of the rainbow

Dai ndiri shiri

I would fly

to the sky

and grab

all the illusive

dreams

and opportunities

so that I can sing

I can

Ndai ndiri shiri

ndaibururuka

to that place

of still waters

that sooth the soul

from the this

tortuous world

that threaten

to swallow me whole

Dai ndiri shiri...

*Dai ndiri shiri – if I was a  bird

**Ndaibhururuka – I would fly

Eyes by Michael H. Brownstein

She wrote her dialogue in verse,

her emails in near rhyme, her thoughts

as sonnets, haiku and ballads,

but her eyes could not hide her fear

of aversion, her lack of understanding

dissension, expressions of danger and fear,

the rising poem like the hunter's moon,

deep and glowing from the depths 

of the dark waters of night into midnight's

rampage of nightmare, agonies, and terrors