Alphabet

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.