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<h3>Poem by <span class="has-inline-color has-luminous-vivid-orange-color">Refilwe J. Mokgatlenyane</span></h3>
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<p>From waking up at 6am for a morning jog<br>Down the busy street downtown with my dog<br>The everyday hangouts and dinners after work<br>From scribbling random messages into my diary every morning when I wake up<br>My diary is now full of pages scribbled<br>My emotions have grown lachrymose; they’re folding with their knees<br>To their head, curled in a dark, quiet corner inside of me</p>
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<p>My smile has worn off my face<br>My voice sounds lonely because I’m sending echoes all over the place<br>And no one knows how much more this Kafkaesque situation is going to last<br>Because it has robbed us of our happiness, it has frozen the hands of time inside our conscious<br>It has robbed us of many more lives that are precious</p>
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<p>I hate to say I miss my close friend<br>I hate to say I miss your beautiful smile<br>Because the time I see you, your smile will be covered in a suffocating and unventilated cloth<br>I won’t be allowed to come closer and hug you even if I’m compelled to<br>I won’t be allowed to hold your hand tight because it’s not right</p>
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<p>But my emotions feel threatened, abandoned, and they grow toxic every day, endangering my life<br>Like a toddler left beside a kettle of boiling water<br>Like an escalating flame with no one to douse it<br>Till the days get better, the voice inside of me remains inaudible<br>No matter how much I loudly cuss and shout</p>
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