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The river
The river - Phillippa Yaa de Villiers
The river
One day the Hillbrow tower started to cry.
Real tears poured down its sides
collected in the gutters and
ran down Banket Street.
When the other buildings saw
the tower’s sadness, they started to weep
in sympathy.
Soon the whole city was sobbing,
the tears joined other tears and collected
in the depressions and valleys,
they covered the koppies
cascading over Gold Reef City
flooding Fordsburg and
soaking Soweto.
They flowed until they became a river
that carried us into the night
where our dreams grew
taller than buildings
from Taller Than Buildings (P Y de Villiers, 2006), © Phillippa Yaa de Villiers 2006, used by permission of the author.