SHE WAS JUST A GIRL

On that fateful day

She was going about her business

Her head held high

Almost touching the sky

Perfect for a bullet astray 

Aargh, she was just a girl

Though seated in a daladala

She didn’t carry a banner 

To be confused with a marcher

Just an innocent dreamer

Her weapon? Not a panga 

Nor was she a gunner

Oh, she was just a girl

Yes, she was armed 

Indeed heavily armed

But only with dreams

Dreams that flew above the clouds

But she kept her feet on the ground

Until the bullet went through her skull

Only then she bravely succumbed

Oh, she was just a girl 

Now she’s forever gone

But will never be forgotten

For her blood never shed in vain

And for the shooter who fled in shame?

Our pain is plain

We want justice! We want justice!

I see a nation in grief

The abomination is real

But let this be a reminder 

A bloody nagging reminder

That a poet is not voiceless

Unlike gold life is priceless

Can’t be sold or bought

Be that of a toad or an owl 

And for every soul lost this way 

Sown are seeds of greater freedom

Oh, she was just a girl

©Muhidin Shangwe, 2018