Nightfall

Good morning guys, i woke up this morning to remember one of the greatest poems i have even come across in my life. It is titled Nightfall in SOWETO (south west town) and i think it is written by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshal who is a south African poet who wrote in English and Zulu. It is the story of a man who is scared of the dark because of the amount of crime in his society which are carried out at night. Have you found yourself in the same situation - praying that it should be daytime forever more. Feel free to share your experiences with me. Below is a copy of the poem. Happy reading!

NIGHTFALL IN SOWETO

Nightfall comes like a dreaded disease

seeping through the pores

of a healthy body

and ravaging it beyond repair.

A murderer's hand

lurking in the shadows,

clasping the dagger

strikes down the helpless victim

I am the victim.

I am slaughtered every night in the streets

I am cornered by the fear

gnawing at my timid heart;

In my helplessness I languish.

Man has ceased to be man

Man has become beast

man has become prey.

I am the quarry to be run down

by the marauding beast let loose

by cruel nightfall from his cage of death.

Where is my refuge?

Where am I safe?

Not in my matchbox house

where I barricade myself against nightfall

I tremble at his crunching footsteps,

I quake at his deafening knock at the door

Open Up! he barks like a rabid dog.

Nightfall Nightfall!

Why were you ever created?

Why can't it be daytime?

Daytime forever more?