tiger stripes

by Robert Hampson

tiger stripes
4 carrol clarkson / simphiwe sesanti

because these were not my compatriots
though they looked like me & spoke my language
because my time was not my own but sold
in gated compounds, air–conditioned rooms
no ancestor spoke to me through my dreams
though I have braided my hair into corn–rows
no ancestor waited for me in the dark
now the line tentatively advances
& these braided lives have been transformed
as the first scratch in the earth writes the plot
against gas & batons & rubber bullets
& my time was not my own but given
& these are now my companions
as if they looked like me & spoke my tongue