AFRICA 1961

AFRICA IN 1961

I have seen the rocks hard

against the soft sky before

sudden night descended and

filled the dark hollows with

the sound of insect wings.

Acquiescent in the luminous air,

the rocks were waiting.

Hard as the rocks,

against my heart lay fear.

Copyright Ruth Hartley 1962

I wrote this after an evening walking among the granite kopjies on Scorror Estate in Wedza district. It was soon after Smith's illegal Declaration of Unilateral Independence and I was afraid of the conflict that I knew must follow.

DISTRICT SIX AT MIDNIGHT 1965

DISTRICT SIX AT MIDNIGHT

Under a grey hollow sky

down streets wind-emptied

scoured and abandoned

by a brief sadistic rain,

I hurry.

Alone.

 

 

Between places, yet nowhere,

wet coat clutching at my legs

hot breath clutching at my heart

Head down against the wind.

Late and

alone.

A rustle makes me start.

A sharp scrape stops my breath.

A graceful shape lifts up,

its foot trapped by the grid

in the

gutter.

Gesturing like a beggar,

silently waving for help,

then abruptly blustering forward

threatening and slapping.

I turn

terrified.

Newspaper blowing on down the street

in a slow collapsing dance

suddenly deflated, silent, still.

Shift, twist, corners lift

and wave

goodbye.

 

 

Nothing is quite so meaningless

a windblown mindless mime

an abstract spite danced backwards.

But I am changed by my encounter.

Now I know

Fear.

Copyright Ruth Hartley 1965

Written in District Six, Cape Town before it was declared a white area by the Apartheid government and the Coloured community were moved out. It had a reputation for being a dangerous and violent place at night.