This is our land
They arrived unnoticed
From across the seas
While I was in the kitchen,
And began their trespass
Upon my grandfather’s land.
I came to ask them leave
They said “the yard isn’t mine”
Because I was in the kitchen,
They had guns to shoot me
And chains to bind me.
They called me names
And said I’m backward
So now they own my backyard
Because I was in the kitchen
When they arrived.
With their guns
They chased me out of the kitchen
And began trampling
Upon grandfather’s land
With their noisy machines
And send me to a place full of sand
Where you can’t grow grapevines.
Now they own the backyard
The kitchen and the courtyard,
You can’t take my kitchen
Because I’m sleeping in the bedroom
That is theft, the land is stolen.
Antreka Tladi
©️ Apr2022
