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Cape Town 1990
I rode the train to work today,
my first day on the job.
Friends offered to kindly show me,
a quick way to get to town.
"Nie man! Kom hier!"
they said, grabbing me by the wrist.
"You can't go there!"
they said, pointing to a sign that read:
"Whites Only / Slegs Blankes"!
So they pulled me away, from the pristine
first compartment,
to the broken down
"Third Class"!
I rode the church to work today,
the Pastor dancing up and down the aisle.
The congregation packed like sardines,
on torn seats, others holding fast
from falling out open doors,
while we clickety clacked along...
The people smiled and applauded,
as his words whistled through missing teeth.
But more than that, he made us forget,
the degradation of our skin!
- Adiela Akoo
From Lost in a Quatrain
First published in Lost in a Quatrain.
Cape Town-1990-Poem By Adiela Akoo Translated Into Odia By Bharati Nayak
Also published in Best of Africa, 25 Years of Freedom, Last Stanza Poetry Journal #11,