We just buried him,
A young man, full of promise,
A young man fresh off college on the look up,
But they had to… they did.
Tomorrow,
We bury the one whose house is at the end of the street,
Yesterday we buried the son of the woman next door,
And the day after, (tomorrow) they scheduled the burial,
Of the girl from o’er there,
Who hanged herself,
After she got raped (by the enemy)
In front of her papa.
(He is in hospital still,
He got a stroke)
They called us thieves, plunderers and rowdy,
Then shot at us,
It was first miles away in the city (center)
Until the trucks came nearer, the bullets louder,
The gunpowder clearer. They came. They came.
Bullet holes through our doors and walls
(We hid,
At least we did try)
Boots knocking down ‘pon our doors,
We screamed (but to who?)
They mocked. They laughed.
We told them to go to the protestors,
“Nyinyi wote wezi”
(All of you are looters)
They replied. We cowed. We cried. We mourned.
We. Got. Shot.
We.
We cried. We tried (running). No one came.
They said it was a lie. But we did die.
INDIGO 