Sorry, African child

I, for all, apologise to you.

You have come into this living world,
that offers you no life;
Born into a history that,
for you, holds no future,
for we, will fail you.

Your breath will be in vain,
your dreams of no consequence,
your innate ability, a foregone futility,
as you will not be allowed to be,
as we fail you.

You are not of your own accord,
but the wasted fruit of our indifference;
Remember, this world, of adult construct,
will have you rapidly forgotten,
for we, the global us,
with a hole in our soul,
will fail you.

Child, you have come into this world
that shunned you from its future;
Yours a life filled with emptiness,
for what you could have had,
is with the haves.

What remains, will be your remains:
a life of having been,
yet, a life unlived.
You’re born alive, but otherwise stillborn.

African child, I’m sorry…

- Romeo Maasdorp, Cape Cultural Collective, South Africa