(Soweto Poets Week)


"flicked velvet tongues of scarlet"(from 'An abandoned bundle'  by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali)
the full poem is below...
 
DEADLINE: 11:59M, 17 NOV
 
An abandoned bundle by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali
 
The morning mist
and chimney smoke
of White City Jabavu
flowed thick yellow
as pus oozing
from a gigantic sore.

It smothered our little houses
like fish caught in a net.

Scavenging dogs
draped in red bandanas of blood
fought fiercely
for a squiriming bundle.

I threw a brick;
they bared fangs
flicked velvet tongues of scarlet
and scurried away
leaving a mutilated corpse - an infant dumped in a rubbish heap -
'Oh! Baby in the Manger
sleep well
on a human dung.

' Its mother
had melted into the rays of the rising sun,
her face glittering with innocence
her heart as pure as untrampled dew.