My fingers drift uncertainly mind humming pencil tapping thoughts tip-toing across a wooden floor at midnight down the creaking stairs through the wheezing door under the swaying leaves of a dancing willow the windows gasp for air
the wind is thick with mucus coughing up a storm the day is bright not a cloud in sight but its not safe to leave you see: the sky forgot his mask
wisps of grey float over the dying willow arrogant and stark (not so cheap) cheap ciggies the new ***** for a people sleepwalking through life
over across the highway in a corrugated iron temple baby suckles mother as she hums his fears away Thula Sana Thula Sana It is going to be ok
I see her through my window Across the empty highway Gentle eyes gazing at me As she hums the fears away Hush my little baby It is going to be ok
My experience of lockdown in South Africa. The ciggies make reference to the fact that cigarettes were banned and were obtained illegally from the black market. Thula Sana is an African lullaby- the equivalent of hush little baby.