Replies

from another time in a distant world a lifetime away.

The Dark Road

Hit were da dark road den
an fight’n hall da way hin raids
slogg’n hover ha sun baked veldt
‘n trying not ta notice what we smelt
da ‘ot blood o’ a village flayed
han hall too familiar sight again

Da palisade wall were gone hin spots
n’ a ‘ut burned, hits thatch roof hash
bodies laid everywhere, grotesque dolls
n’ we buried dem han count da toll
da ANC warriors, those leftist trash
‘ad made han example, drew their lots

Women and children, men, and even stock
it left ye shocked hat da inhumanity o’ man
a ‘ut full o’ babies burned, n’ men tied ‘n shot
left ta lay in da brutal sun ta finally rot
such cruelty n’ brutality hought ta be ban
but then hall ha gutless poli does his talk

But it were women who paid a cruel price
fer we found them himpaled hon da log wall
some still alive though in blood drenched shock
ha mercy pistol shot n’ dey went below da rocks
n’ we listened in our hanger ta a ‘yena’s call
n’ scratched hour collections o’ body lice

Hit were da ‘ard march den, hall night we ran
fer we’d heven da score fer dem what lost
n’ dem dat called demselves warriors bold
would hif we made da river not hanother day hold
we’d put paid fer da villagers who’d paid da cost
o’ political power hamid da ‘atred dey’d fan

O’ dat run I’ll not ferget, we ran like fools
past ha pride of lions who left us halone
n’ only da vultures kept near ta see
we felt da angry rising up n’ reason flee
we didn’t heven try ta try n’ ‘ide, dey’d hatone
fer we’d be restitution’s willing tools

I set da chatter guns hin crossfire sets
n’ several mines we planted hin ditch lines near
halong da river bank hat da ford we ‘id haway
hin da grasses long like leopards dat whole day
they came near dusk n’ they moved now hin fear
hin enemy lands you takes no bets
Dey came on a good thirty strong
each keeping a sharp eye out for trouble
as they made swift for safer places
unaware that they’d be making no more races
the fates were about to boil and bubble
and they’d pay for doing wrong

Da first ta reach da river’s edge, were da first ta die
da 7.62 sizzlers burned hacross da river flats
n’ two kaffirs leaped hin da ditches n’ flew ‘igh
hit were fast n’ ‘ard n’ they gave has good has got n’ die
but we cut dem down dem mal spiesgooiers like rats
heven has da vultures set wing n’ came on da fly

Nine broke da cover and hit were up close knife work
dey hot breath and curses did no good wit blades
hin it were who were stronger n’ hated more
machete justice den n’ red rage ta pour
brutal but fair no more day’d ever raid
or around innocents they hid ‘er lurk

Day were down thirty n’ we lost two
we buried ours n’ left dem fer bird food
the long trek back ta barracks n’ rations hot
we ‘ad time ta think o’ hour sorry lot
n’ ‘ow dem vrek commies were rude
n’ the bloody work dey was sure ta do

We found deir tiete bags round day necks dere
made from da village women’s breasts cut off
we buried them hin ‘onest shame ta be men
n’ set hour course fer place rather be just den
n’ I don’t care hif you voël does tend ta scoff
a soldier hought to be a man n’ soldier fair

Hi’ve left hit hall behind now
hin ha distant past growing dark
but I remembers dat day halong da river
and still a part me gets da shivers
fer hit were close dat day no stroll hin a park
n’ hi came ‘ome somehow