by Tinashe Wakapila

It’s no beautiful melody
when you hear a politician promising everything
but a human being’s life
First it was ‘worse than dogs and pigs’,
i thought oh well,
i have
 enough on my platter to deal with
so i brushed it off,
dusted my self up and smiled

Soon smiles turned into frowns and all happiness
drowned when it became…
‘we will behead them’…

Could these be the utterances of a human being lacking
knowledge or deliberately diverting attention by inciting hatred.
‘Jail them for two years lets see if they can conceive’ …

So much hatred in these elderly veins
Pushing murderers,
rapists and priests to torment my soul
My life is threatened, yet this is who i am.

Is it because of who i am that i deserve to die,
for who i am has prompted

Those in power to ignore me suffering
as they talk about peace yet for me they declare death
Its because I am what i am
that they threaten my hopes
Peace lies somewhere,
but as for me it is nowhere
all hope is but gone.

Like empty vessels,
i hear scary noises about lesbians from all angles.

I am in a dark room wondering if its the beginning of the end
or the 
end of the beginning…
Thoughts break my heart and eat me up,
like a female scorpion devouring itself with own venom

I am hurting myself

Should i die or should i try 

I will fight,
i will write because i am what i am

Why then would i choose to be gang raped
why would i want to be beheaded
Who would choose to be bashed and used as an election winning tool

Who would choose to lose privileges
When and how will you get that clear
I am who i am,
because i am
what i am

About the author

Tinashe Wakapila is a Zimbabwean LGBT rights activist in the LBT group Pakasipiti.
She is also a youth leader and a scriptwriter.