Remembering 11th Feb 1990

Listening to the news this morning i realised that it was twenty years since Nelson Mandela came out of prison and [later] became the first President of a New South Africa.

It was a time when all things seemed possible and, infused with the spirit of the times, i wrote a Prose Praise poem to the great man, in celebration of that moment. It was published five years later in a magazine produced by the institution where i had temporary employment at the time and later after he retired i sent a copy as a gift to President Mandela.

Now twenty years later, after a second President Thabo Mbeki, who will be remembered more as an AIDS denialist than for his achievements; and now a third president [Jacob Zuma] who will be perhaps known more for his ever expanding family, and his ever widening range range of mothers, the twenty year clock has ticked. All the media people are rushing to remember what they did on that momentous day…

I watched the day on television in an era before cellphones, You tube and this blogging frenzy: and this [below] is what i wrote… I wish you well to enjoy it… The President’s spokesperson said Mr Mandela had enjoyed it notwithstanding its non-traditional unusual construction.

….
..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