POETRY                                                                                               (Copyright - Pierre du Toit)
                                                ...................................................................................................................................................................

                                    
                                    Migrant Labour

            
                                    Across the border - born
                                    a cry of hope
                                    for wealth and pride
                                    with papers
                                    damp against the chest
                                    their backs are strong with promise

                                    *

                                    but days go deaf
                                    and suns hang mute
                                    from countless empty domes
                                    their hostile brothers'
                                    eyes are blackened
                                    pools of deep fatigue

                                    *

                                    some nights
                                    some sing their sounds their ears
                                    are drunk they drown in cheap cologne 'till
                                    bare bulbs die
                                    and darkened dreams
                                    lose past or future home

                                    *

                                    their eyelids move
                                    their shadows search
                                    from Istanbul Algiers
                                    from high Lesotho streams they left
                                    for life -
                                    their corrugated faith


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