Political Incorrectness
wild fires on Table Mountain
spread their ugly flames onto
the University centre of learning
old books in the ancient library
smouldering ashes of bygone wisdom
student quarters burnt just the same
nature does not discriminate or does it
when readers fall prey to the elements
of destruction in temporal knowledge
that some things will never be the same
scorched they gather what was not to be
reach out to quaint philosophers for truths
but the pages grant furious fodder
link tinder wood they light up for once
they have the limelight in times of ignorance
some say at least it was not the colonialists' fault
flint stones made radiant sparks long before
and the Chinese invented firecrackers
way before the British doped them in opium
a sterling idea of potent delirious subjugation
others weigh in and claim it was provenance
or politician’s corruption and underfunding
of the local emergency services or even
lack of water and evidence of climate change
but one way or other resides some Apartheid
it was Heinrich Heine who pointed out clearly
that once they burn books humans will follow
and it may have been more than a cigarette
that ignited the bush veldt as a reminder
while conspiracy theories keep infernos alive
21st April 2021
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