(For Gabeba Baderoon)
by Phelelani Makhanya
Silence is the siren of the night
Words take off in lullaby wings
Breaking locks of quarantined hearts
Her fluffy voice painting shrines
Where butterflies marry stars
Where dreams intercept
Nightmares before they
Reach our bedroom doors.
She removed her sandals
Refusing to stamp the soil
Tiptoed gently and slowly
Passing heaven’s tinted windows
Yet making their curtains
Move like swings in a park.