Tuesday Poem: "Don't Turn Around"

(for Nelson Mandela and my wife, Christine)

“Don’t turn around,”

they said,

“or you’ll miss it.”

And now I go,

always facing forward,

thanks to you.

Sometimes heaven opens a portal

when you’re rolling low

towards darkness

and you were its angel,

bearing glad tidings.

And now

I’m home

when my children wake me up;

I’m home

to collect my two sons from their

different educational institutions of excellence;

I’m home

to prepare the evening meal

for my wife

and no stone-age sniggers

can make me feel

emasculated,

since they have no concept

of emancipation.