Interim Man from Ownership by Mthakathi

seasons change like citadel sentries
they issue, tacit warnings to move on
lest i become just another entry
in the book of vagrants on the lawn
still i sit here unmoving
with all my extremities asleep
and the hope of fortunes improving
removing, all the toxic doubts that i keep

"maybe i'm not religious enough"
"maybe i'm not prodigious enough"
"maybe i'm not litigious enough"
suddenly 20 years is pissed away

and i stand in this cage
spartan and pale
swallowing my rage
all stand and hail!
the interim man

everything's moving in the sky
planets, birds and aeroplanes
but nothing moves in front of my eyes
it's all, brake lights glowing red in the rain
i stare into those red reflections
and i see salieri nodding at me
and all my middling selections
in places i don't want to be

"maybe i'm not impressive enough"
"maybe i'm not aggressive enough"
"maybe i'm not expressive enough"
and then wham, i'm blind-sided

staring at this wreck
incredulous and stunned
the signals went unchecked
and i am the one
the interim man

the cracked marble, vaulted ceilings and verdigris trim
the tedium of waiting at each station
the boarding call washes through the hall and i'm off once again
but never to a final destination
but i don't want off
no i don't want off of this
i don't want off this train
i just wanna drive

it's a fine line that we straddle
between measured patience and inertia
all those gates i never rattled
it's the open ones that can hurt ya
so when all the mechanisms start failing
and all the systems go haywire
you can hope for the best and grab the railing
or go arms akimbo into the fire!

"maybe i'm tenacious enough"
"maybe i'm pugnacious enough"
"maybe i'm perspicacious enough"
and then suddenly i'm airborne!

off of this floor
gravity free
waiting no more
never to be
the interim man

• Afropop
• Rock
• South African
• World Fusion
• Worldbeat
• afropop
• ema
• jozi
• mthakathi
• ownership
• rock
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• south africa
• wmojf
• world
• New York