Refugees

He said
he ran fast
he caught a bus to the border
he paid the driver R300 to let him hide
he made it here
he got a job
he left his three young sisters
still a child himself
he sends them money for mielies
and money for grinding
everything has a price
enough to eat at the end
he gets beaten up
three against one
with a fence pole in the night
because he is different
from Zimbabwe
the country of stone houses
he shouted 'let me go'
but no one heard
he went to the clinic
the police raided and threw many in a truck
they ask R200 to let him go without papers
the system works for both

She said
she walked across the grey Limpopo river
she was told where it is shallower
but they know too
she found the police at the other side
they took her money
they said'close your eyes
she consciously lost consciousness
she shouted 'let me go'
but no one heard
they dropped her down the road
with nothing to start in this country
and three children waiting, wondering,
far away
in abandoned houses of stone
she found a job
they turned a blind eye to her lack of papers
she kept her eyes down
he kept his eyes down
they worked
waiting for payment and passports
in a distant confusing future