The Social Beat

In my last blog I promised to post one of  Faith's pieces, so here goes....



THE SOCIAL BEAT
Sibongile Faith Kuta

Trapped in the social vibe
An inevitable state of society
The dreaded life of conceived inhumanity
Ignorance crawls
Betrayal walks
Corruption runs
Are these truths or rather accepted ideals
Hark to the voice of the children
Consider the groans of the voiceless...

What becomes of humanity in a vibe society?
There are many questions without answers
And many answers unquestioned
The beat goes on...

I am a woman whose arms have been burnt
Bruised both inside and outside
My husband does it all the time
His hobby affirms that he is my hubby

These bruises are better concealed and not reported
What about his progeny?
He is the provider of peanut butter and jelly
I am trapped in this social vibe
And so it goes on and on...

His name is Peter
A young chap dumped in a plastic bag two days after birth
He grew up without a surname
Removed from foster home to foster home
He is a deviant, a drug dealer in his youth
He pauses at the thought of death
Takes a deep breath as he commits suicide
Another one escaping the social vibe.

Her name is Phindiwe
Born in a small village of Eastern Cape
A 5-year old without parents
Robbed of her virginity
Snatched of her childhood... a premature sexual partner
Ta-Jakes the uncle pleasures himself
In repeatedly raping her behind closed doors
Diagnosed with HIV she becomes a victim...
Another statistic!

What becomes of humanity in a vibe society?
There are many questions without answers
And many answers unquestioned
The beat goes on...

He wakes up on a Monday morning
To realize the mess he caused yesterday evening
In his drunken recall
He broke all the windows
Broke the heart of his wife
And chased his children away
They call him Mr. Yesterday...
Pondering soberly, faced with the cost of his actions
Another story told again!

They think it strange
That I walk barefoot on a cold winter afternoon
Assuming I lack sanity, perhaps I do
I don’t know what’s normal and what’s not
How I wish they would put themselves in my shoes
The very shoes I do not have
At the thought of my barren years
I beat my daily drum, the idea of sound perfected
I gain momentum.

What becomes of humanity in a vibe society?
There are many questions without answers
And many answers unquestioned
And so the beat goes on...