Poetry of Chris Mann

Where is the freedom for which we died?

Whenever I dream during these violent times
I meet up with the martyrs for freedom.

I see Steve Biko again,
And Achmad Timol,
And David Webster,
all, all of them murdered by deeds of hatred.

I also see Nelson Mandela again,
A man buried alive in prison
who stepped from the tomb still living
and is the Lazarus of our times.

These are the heroes I think of often,
who knock at the doors of our memory,
who travel around our country
talking together as they look about them
like ancestral spirits of the new South Africa.

Going into the home of a drunkard
they see him beating his wife and children.
“Look at that!” says one of the heroes,
“Is this the freedom for which we died?”

Entering the township
they find the skies full of flames
and people running confusedly round the streets
like termites whose home has been kicked over.
“And look at that!” says another of the heroes,
“Is this the freedom for which we died?”

Going into a school
they see pupils bickering with the teachers
and two boys stabbing each other.
“And look at that!” says another of the heroes,
“Is this the freedom for which we died?”

Walking the streets at night
they find the homes locked and barred
as if the people had built their own prisons
and lived inside them huddled in fear.
“I can’t believe it!” another of them says,
“Is this the freedom for which we died?”

These are the heroes I think of often,
these are the shades of the new South Africa,
and this is the question they ask of the living,
“Where is the freedom for which we died?”

Chris Mann's formal education includes a BA from Wits majoring in English and Philosophy, an MA from the School of Oriental and African Languages (London) in African Oral Literature and an MA from Oxford in English Language and Literature. Now based at the Institute for the Study of English in Africa at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, he is the founder and convenor of Wordfest, a national multilingual festival of South African languages and literatures with a developmental emphasis. We are grateful to him for assisting South African Poets in showcasing their work at the Grahamstown International Festival.

Pen Drawing by Amitabh Mitra