Red robot
There's a beggar on my right
He begs for something to eat
We hand him a juicy, orange naartjie
He thanks us as if we'd saved his life
but he saved ours.

I stared at him in amazement
As the naartjie was peeled.
He peeled it gently and softly
almost as if he held a newborn baby
smoothly and with a tenderness.
The same touch as that from a mother.
He taught me to be gentle.

As we strolled up the road
I spotted another beggar, polishing his shoes
Shoes that have aged.
As the cloth swayed smoothly from left to right
he smiled, as if that was his only joy.
Like the first laugh of a baby.
The feeling that creates butterflies and fairies.
He taught me how to be gentle.

im angry.
angry at society
for making people afraid to be who they are,
for making people feel inferior and unimportant.
angry at the human race
for having greed swimming through their ice cold veins,
for having no regard for nature
for only thinking of themselves.
angry at my parents
for not warning me about the dangers of this dark world.
the dark alleys
the walls caving in.
but im angriest at myself
for not paying attention when they told me.
for letting things make me angry
things cant make us angry unless we lwt them.

my observant eyes stare out the window.
the first lady drives past
her shiny sports car red sports car matches her shiny red hair.
she drives fast
to show everyone haw daddy gets her love.
under those sparkling glasses
and blasting music
lies a lost soul,
a soul who was never shown the way.

a tiny, quick smart car swerves next to us
the driver looks nervous
not sure if the sweat or the shaking gave it away.

i spot an old lady with a walking stick
the mourning her eyes feel makes mine water
eyes tell an amazing story.
yet they can be deceiving.

i sit in the room and stare through the window
i watch how the wind sings and the leaves play the melody
the clothes on the line try hard to set free as they push back and forth trying to run free

its to no avail.

as a apple falls from the tree, he is now free and the branches sing in congratulation.
the trees know they can never go far
but have been there so long they began to realize its not their time and will never be.

the grass sways and the brown leaves fly away,
they are now free to go where the wind takes them.

the grey dull rocks have the world on their shoulders
with no way of getting away,
their nights are cold and their hearts are empty.

they have no way of going.

they are stuck

alone.

forever.

they starve to be free.

freedom is what they search for.

i am a rock.

longing to be a leaf.