Imminently the render`d heart palpitated with flashbacks
Of poignant grandmother`s funeral;
The same white van halted by the gate in howling dusk,
We were squeezed at the back with father,his brother-
My dear brother and grandfather took the front seat.
The firmaments shrouded the celestial countenance;
The scattered snow-like stratospheres motioned easterly,
The curling icy breeze rustling upward the sky,
Then the pitch-dark night devoid with even a single star.
We trekked the road midst the obviate conditions,
Conversation was grief-stricken,the waning countenances-
The usual humours young father famed for by his obtrusive
Sense of jocularity,the suave gentleman of his calibre
Was unsurprisingly quite.Father spoke now and then in a sage drawl,
Then eventually retreated his wisdom.Brother poised to defy
The warmth of slumber kept his sight on the dreary windows;
The sight full of blurs,animated duns,vast landscapes
And darkness.No one cared to wipe the vapour on the window;
Somehow it provided protection shunting the dreary world.
I remember the wrath of the elders as they spoke alone;
Then we were sent to the shops to save our sense of prejudice,
The graveyard was adjacent to where we resided
That solemn place where my dearest grandmother rested.
The burial day was the worst;at vivid daybreak we were
Ushered in one by one to glance at last her face.
The customary ritual prove too much-brother broke in tears.
Still,I didn`t weep-she could not be gone.
Her face was serene,tranquil,her locks were the style
She always loved-she could not be gone.
To further exacerbate the melancholy reigning the heart
The psalm sung prophesied of God magnanimous kingdom;
"It will be nice it will be nice
Kuyoba mnandi kuyoba mnandi
When we are all bound to heaven
Uma sesiphelele sisonke eZulwini
Because we know we have o`r promises
Ngoba siyazi ukuthi sinezithembiso zethu;"
The assigned reverend addressed the mourners;
Read a sombre verse from the Bible,
Miraculously the skies started to clear,
The blue-grayish nimbus motioned south-easterly
Revealing an impregnable sun showering down myriad rays:
The impeccable harmonious green illuminated
The afar mountains peaks and the slight wind rustled
The long trees planted in neat rows in close proximity
To the cemetery yet the resilient low humming of the psalm
Persisted then the reverend raised his right hand.
The slow descension of the casket down the dug hole;
The four pallbearers in blacksuits slowly releasing their grasp,
"Kuyoba mnandi kuyoba mnandi
it will be nice it will be nice
uma sesiphelele sisonke eZulwini
When we are all bound to heaven
Ngoba siyazi ukuthi sinezithembiso zethu
Because we know we have o`r promises"
The mourners don in green mostly females sung again;
Stealthy the reverend clasped the soil with his right hand
from the heaped shovel and then threw it down the casket,
The relatives were urged to do the same according
To their aristocracy,the grandfathers-the grandmothers-
The Aunts-kins-till down the young generation.
I groped the lukewarm soil with my trembling palm;
The palpitating heart battling the brutal truth in mind
Impounding grief reigned the heart wretched in disbelief.
