THE Boardwalk Inkwazi Shopping Centre’s ‘Stop Bullying’ poetry competition saw two Empangeni High School pupils, Tanica Naidoo and Andisa Phumlani Mabasa, taking first and second place.
Masked Animals
Tanica Naidoo
With eyes as cold as ice itself
And words as sharp as teeth.
They stalk me with greedy intentions,
But I cannot retaliate, nor draw my sword out of its sheath.
I cannot run, cry or shake,
As these animals can sense fear from a mile away
And will begin to stampede towards me, creating a seismic earthquake.
A pound of my flesh is what they crave.
A herd of kids forcing me to dig my own, deep grave.
And it is not only I that falls victim to such scavenger beasts.
Who praise themselves with feasts upon feasts.
By belittling those they know they can defeat.
They will carry on preying on the weak.
Unless we put an end to it,
By being the people these poor kids come to seek.
Before it’s too late and we find those prayed on souls, in an empty pit.
Of no return.
I tried to keep silence….
Andisa Phumlani Mabasa
Bullying the product of arrogance and violence
The main cause of fear and silence
Victims are afraid to go to school
As they are kicked and teased for being ‘uncool’
I tried to keep silence from being kicked and pushed to side
But the scars and bruises I could never hide
I tried to keep silence. I never talked
But it was clearly visible from the way I walked
Every morning I’d wake up feeling stronger
Praying that the pain could not go any longer
But it was clearly visible from the outside
The terrorising feeling I had on the inside.
I was scared to death and could not move
I felt unsafe and insecure
It was like a disease of which I had no cure
I tried to keep silent
I tried not to talk
But the fact was, I could not do it anymore
