winds of change

if someone had said
when the hippos were busily
suppressing the soweto uprising

that the children who rebelled
against being forced
afrikaans te spreeke

would in three decades be a part
of a cleansing wind of change
that ended racial tyranny

it would have seemed almost a pipedream
or the result
of a bit too much drink being taken

and yet today when we look at the new democracy
with all its faults and crises
each struggle seems a step towards redemption