This, That and the Other

How many times is it?
You’ve wished
On a star…burning candle. A red speckled bug!
To return, to dancing in wildflowers,
Strolling in half flowing streams, mud up to the shins
Or better…be a rock, strong, sturdy,
Still.
Fevered dreams break.
Scales of the cradle fall.
And rose-colored glasses ripped from your eyes.
You realize when they asked, “What goes up and never comes down?”
Inflation!

Like a train, life, it hits you.
And you wake
Behind on rent, with no running water, and perpetual load shedding.
Pressure everywhere, Family, friends, work, even the dog.
Yet you want it all
The house, the car, the watch…the gram
What can you do? This That and The Other.

This is an opportunist
Its I’ll do anything…
Even a fossil
It doesn’t matter as long as I get it
The money, the house, the car, but not success.
You’ll get you a daddy, but not your father.
A blesser, he won’t mind if you are sinful.
It’s the oldest trade and you do it all lying on your back
There’s few risks, don’t count disease,
And if the wife knows the money will cease.
Is it worth it, for the house, the car…the gram?

That is a little more complex
Not rocket science, but still, hard to fathom.
Truly…not for the faint hearted.
That has reached the end of his rope, though you may as well have reached for a noose
Your life, your very soul is what you’ve sold.
Even if they say it’s just a few toes.

A visit to sekuru, not your grandmother’s husband.
The deal is done.
Can you contend with reptiles, crows and crawling creatures?
Pray it’s not a serpent under your bed!
Is the reward great? you’ll be the envy pataundi
Except when you die and the money with you.
They’ll laugh…he did it for the house, the car, the envy on the gram.

Now the other…
The other dreams
The other stresses
The other hopes
The other prays
The other…persists…
And when it pays
The other is glad,
Glad he never took the Cut
Or loosed her morals
For pain that ends
And the fools on Instagram.

Who would you be?