A is for Alexandra.
Queen of the Jews you were
Alexandra
But that was long time ago.
long,long before The Shoah
Mother of All Russia also
Alexandra
the last tsarina indeed
Rasputin’s lover
whom Russia did not love
and slaughtered.
Queen of the Brits you were
Alexandra
and Lloyd George your minister
watched stiff upper lip
Muslim women crucified
by The Greek
Armenian girls impaled
by the Kurds
The Ottoman becoming a Turk
and turning savage
against long time friends and neighbours
Armenian Jew or Greek
A is for Alexandra
B for beating bashing burning
in Alexandra
township of Egoli
city of gold they also call
Ndongazi ya Duma.
B is for butchering
those they call kwere kwere
the heimatlos
those they can’t understand
or won’t
those who have nowhere to go
those children of Africa
they should call brothers!
B is for History The Bitch
the greatest bitch of all
which can not stop to
repeat itself.
So then
A is for Alexandra
Atrocities
Amen says The Politician
B for History
The Great Bitch and Butcher
C for Cato Manor
second time around you bitch
C for corruption
in the City of gold
D for …
Dammit!
Dammit, can’t we stop
reciting an alphabet of Hate
when there is one of Harmony?
An alphabet of Harmony, yes,
where
A is for Amour, je t’aime, amigos, amore
B for beauty, birth and brothers
C for charity, children laughing in the sun
and charity
and all the colours from flowers
and the skirts of dancing girls
D for daring to love
….
Can’t we
can’t we asks the poet
can’t we recite
an
alphabet of Harmony?
But, you know, he is just a poet
isn’t it
but he is
JUST A DREAMER
Hell
you wont’ stop me dreaming
Alexandra
African sister of mine
With the kind permission of the author Jean Cornet aka J.M. Spitaels
from the book:
Dust on the Road / POUSSIERES SUR LA ROUTE
Poems in English and French, drawings by Jean Cornet
Poets Printery South Africa July 2011 ISBN -978-0-620-50582-6
Jean Cornet aka J.M. Spitaels, born 1939, hails from DRC.
Has written 3 books in French. First poem published, when a teenager, in l’Essor du Congo , daily for which his mother was a chronicler.
As a medical doctor, practiced in Congo (1964-1969) then lectured at Durban ’s medical school S. A. (1969-1995).
His poetry, now in English and French, throws a disillusioned glance at today’s world without ignoring its fragile beauty.
