Mbali Vilakazi
South Africa
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Mbali Vilakazi
Exploring the dimensions of self and characterising them, giving voice and permission to them is what emerges when listening to this poet. She articulates aspects of herself as the girl child of long ago, but also the woman here and now still reclaiming and wanting to assert herself, on her own terms. Her slightly hypnotic delivery draws you into the timeless space she has created for herself, held only momentarily within the frame of this poem.
BIOGRAPHY
Mbali Vilakazi is a child of the city by the sea, who came into being under the watchful eye of a si... More >
The Girl in the Yellow Dress
The girl in the yellow dress speaks.
And the words are simple,
time moves.
Autumn lets itself go and comes again.
shed of indifference
in the innocence of our belief
we are fashioned into dreams.
The road is carved in monotones of longing
and the wind, will leave you, confused.
as though there were no footprints upon your path
but take heed. And know that, you are coming.
the hearts following
only frailty’s search for a spring that lasts.
You, who would share of such a solemn solitude
your shoulders burning,
laying buried in bubbles of borrowed discomfort
Arise.
You await the sun
and yet it is the sun who awaits you -
Time moves.
And of this woman of the wilderness,
painting, hopeful, visions, across the uncertain landscape of our destiny
the sweet aroma of truth
makes its way into the dying moments of my youth
its fragrance carries me over a silence that was never my own.
The girl in the yellow dress speaks.
The hereafter bears a portrait of me.
And I am beautiful.
