Why are we getting killed?
When you kill me according to faith you kill only the body
a loving heart remains
my soul remains

Why are we getting killed?
When you kill me you are killing a natural being
A being with its own mistakes
A being with its own flaws
A being with tears like you
A being with a body like your mother’s

Why are we getting killed?
when you kill me you kill a child
a child that came to earth like you did
A child that cried the first time like you did
A child that was once poked like you were

Why are we humiliated in church?
when you humiliate me
You are humiliating a sinner like you
An image of God like your image

Why are we hated?
When you love do you know I too love
Like you do
Why then do you put your hands on me
Make me go to my final rest when I am not prepared
Why are we getting killed?

Under my jeans
my shirt
You will see my body
a woman’s body
a vagina
You will come across lips
and a clitoris
You will come across breasts
big or small
with nipples,
you will feel skin
like yours

Why do I deserve humiliation and murder
Why is my body different from women you love
women you respect
Why do you call me names
Names you would never call your mother, sisters, wife

You are killing us because we don’t want to
Open our legs for your penetration
Because we don’t want to have sex with you
Because we don’t want to hear
all that bass in our ears
saying “I love you baby’

Why should we be laid to our final rest?
Before we see our destination
Before we reach or journeys
Before we have our families
Before we bid our last goodbyes to
Our parents, sisters and Brothers

Is it because of how we dress?
What if we were to go back to the times
The times of Simon Petros
Where we all had to dress ourselves was ropes around our bodies
Would you kill us then?

If being a lesbian is a sin
Let us kill all sinners
Start with thieves
Follow with rapists
Never forget adulterers
Let’s include liars
Authorizing killing as a norm
Kill each other like flies

If we all believe in God
What kind of God is it that we praise?
When we kill and humiliate in His name
Pastors preach hate
They lie
They throw people of God out of the church
Because of whom we love
When God is love

If we all believe in the ancestors
which ancestors say we should be killed?
From which end to which end is its grave?
Who buried them?
If there are any ancestors that do not accept people as they are
Then they are cruel;
They never lived;
They are not of human nature;
They are aliens;
Camagu!

If you are gay and lesbian
Transgender and intersex
You are human
Let us all use the common name
You can’t appreciate life,
If you have never heard the loud cry
Of those who were murdered
Before they closed their eyes and declared dead
We must hear the cries of their parents
We must hold the broken hearts of their loved ones
We must feel the rejection of those who were kicked out of church
We must feel the sting of harassment
We must feel the violation of rape
We must feel the abandonment of those whose parents turned their backs
We must unite and fight for our rights

May the souls of those who have departed from us
Rest in peace.

Igazi lenu ngumkhonto wam, nawo ndakuvika ndiphontse ngentlungu enayivayo!

by Thozie Mathe
© 4/5/2014

Previous by Thozie

2014 March 21:   Whose Democratic rule?