Seventeen years ago i wrote the following piece on the occasion when Mr Mandela was released from prison. Later when he retired as our first democratic President i sent him a copy which was graciously received. As our beloved Madiba now enters his 90th year I’m reprinting the piece again for my blogreaders, who naturally did not exist in 1990 before we all knew about the Internet.
February 1990:
A report on breaking through the ceiling:
A praise prose poem for Nelson Mandela.
The world came
to watch a
spectacle;
a man who had
been locked away
for twenty-seven years
was to be released.
And the spokespeople
for the media
and the great,
came from afar to hear
the wisdom
which it was
believed
this old man
had gained
during his incarceration.
After waiting
uncertainly
for hours
in the hot February
glare;
He finally emerged
blinking
into the sunlight.
Was led to a podium
around which
a Hundred Thousand people
had gathered and
onwhichtheeyesofFiveHundredMillion
faces
werefocussedviatelevisionsetsina
hundred and eighty
countriesbeamedbyinstantsatellite.
With a great sense of Majesty
All awaited
his unique insights, which,
his publicists claimed,
andwhichallwhocamewould
have
themselves
believe he had gained
through years of
incarcerated
introspection
The great buzz
was that this man
had
through his
suffering
acquired unsullied
wisdom and would
unitethecountryandleadhisto
rmentorsandhispeople
toapromisedland:
freed
of all the pain borne
by the suffering
for millennia.
Slowly
he ascended the steps
and trod
with unaccustomed grace
toward
the podium.
A hush
fell
uponhalfaBillionhouseholds.
Fathers
shushed their children
andbeatthosewhospokewhilethegreat
Man
began to speak.
And the sound of wonder
amongst
the gathered dignitaries
and the watching multitudes
turned
to
consternation.
For he spoke yet
anancientanditwasbelievedarecently
discreditedlanguage
and none had thought
to expect
it.
And so they sat
in bewildered
and bemused
consideration
ofwhattheywerehearing
while
a
howlingmobofjubilantsupporters
soon turned their joy
to rapturous
violence
smashingallthewindowsonthesquare.
.NiK(1990)
Publ. 1995. Bedford Yearbook
Publ. Collection: Random Notes… by NiK[00] http://editred.com/nicholasjakari