Along Samora Machel

Along Samora Machel Avenue,
I knocked a woman down
But I didn’t stop.

I saw her toss and turn
In my rear-view mirror
Before lying still, twisted
Next to her loaf of bread,
But I couldn’t stop.

Fearing the crowd would get me,
I drove on in the confusion
To flee from the chaos
To try and get home
If home was still there.

Along Samora Machel Avenue,
I knocked a woman down
But couldn’t stop.

Bullets were flying
People were dying.
Another mass uprising?

Along Samora Machel Avenue
I knocked a woman down
But I didn’t stop.

A heavy truck reduced her to pulp
And this was no fiction.
I bled with her – profusely
But I just couldn’t stop!

Ignatius T. Mabasa