Listen O’ mothers listen O’ sisters <br />Listen the spirit of reason is in me <br />And I tell of the hurt that should never be. <br /> <br />Violence, you cry out violence <br />Oppression you today name it <br />Abuse, that is your parade word <br />Yet you forget whence this all came <br />Yes, you ignore the mold whence this was cast. <br /> <br />Look at that young old man, <br />Sitting there like a cornered rat <br />Eyes darting hither and thither flashing with fear <br />Confusion and humiliation written all over his face <br />The little boy inside him begging for understanding <br />Yes, the little boy that was never allowed to be. <br /> <br />From the womb he was already called a man <br />From the day he was born, word got around <br />‘A man has come into the family’ <br />He was nurtured with the word man from his mother’s breasts <br />He was saddled with manly jobs from his childhood <br />Through winter, spring, summer and fall <br />He was sent out there to be a man. <br /> <br />He grew up in a world of violence <br />Where oppression is the rule and abuse is the policy <br />And all that was said to be a man’s world <br />No mother ever taught him how men should act <br />No woman ever cared for the boy inside <br />He was always told, men don’t cry <br />Go out there and be a man. <br />When his father died he was told, ‘You are now man of the family’ <br />And the poor boy was gone. <br />O’ mothers, O’ sisters, What is a man’s world?<br /><br />Mpho Petrus Manwedi<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/listen-o-mothers/
