Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The Nunnery Wedding


I was one of four young ladies
Changing a car tyre for the first time
As your marriage set us in motion
Crossing boarders for the first time
When our passports were stamped
We could not say that we were fully outside of our country
Since we had never been more inside our Mzantsi
Lesotho Mountains curtaining our eyes from the sight of our provinces
Preventing our ears from hearing the noises of our cultures
Creating the perfect setting for intimacy
We forgot our lives
We were in a new land
Trying to communicate
Lost in Sesotho
The wedding took place at the Nunnery
Old non-smiling humble nuns looking on
Creating an unreal serene atmosphere
Fortunately the wedding priest was no nun
Sprowson announced Mthi and Lite man and wife
A few Sotho people responded in song
A song so silent we could have been at a funeral
South Africans took over
Fair enough nuns and marriage never do meet
Yet this day the nunnery would know the sound of wedding celebrations
In an instance Basotho land became Xhosa land
Singing, dancing, rejoicing fearlessly
With pride we boasted about the bride
We showed off the brilliance of the groom
I remember the night as though it were yesterday
Darkness fell that night yet unable to quiet our singing
Stars shone like angel eyes looking through the curtains of heaven
Watching and in awe of our uncontainable rejoicing, dancing and singing
Elation covered us like the blankets of the Basotho people
I could not recall anything of journeying back
What remains in memory is only happiness
That had me believe that I floated back
Leaving the humble world of nuns
In total wedding bliss
I sometimes wonder
If that nunnery
Still stands
Quietly
Or if our songs
Still loom over that night sky
While angel eyes testify
Proclaiming
Eternal wedding
Celebrations

© siki dlanga
25 September 2012 for Mthi and Lite Adonis on their Anniversary

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