The hovering boy, a poem by Rethabile Masilo

I have asked my siblings to help me
shift the furniture against the walls
into an arena, to make more room,
her madonna heart is within that room,
but there is not only her in there, sitting
with that long smile. An angel flies in
on one wing: now there's a mockery
of life, for there is no uncertainty
in the way we acknowledge a loss.
She knows the truth behind the world,
the surprises it peddles in darkness.
In my own room I put my belongings together,
for I must be on my way in order to be back.
She's in there, now, while night touches itself,
its fingers slow and lingering. She waits
until her boy comes in and floats to her
in that pernicious room, on the morning
of which she'll pick her things and pack,
in order to come back another day,
and wait for night that starts to arrive
when she leaves, and the boy flies away.

---

The Onslaught Press
2015