POEM: I Want to go Home

A poem by Faieza Mx, now living in Queensland, Australia…

I want to wake up to the Majestic Table Mountain
Always standing, Always there, Never failing
Its beauty astounding
As it watches over Cape Town
The ocean so blue…
Camps Bay, Strand, Boulders
Sea Point

I want to go home to gaardtjies shouting
‘hullo, hullo, Mowbray…Cape Town’ with their gapped smiles.
Never mind the way they weave between the traffic.
I want to go home to a place where people say
‘just now’ for later, ‘kanala’, ‘shukran’ and
‘slamat on your birthday’.

I want to go home to Aunty Ruwaydah’s Sugar Beans Curry
and my Mom’s Cheesecake.
I want to sit close to my dad and try to be serious,
While I listen to his lectures
and laugh with him when he’s being jovial.
I want to go home to my younger sister, Dhilshaad’s wittiness
and my older sister, Naushina’s wisdom.

As Ramadaan approaches, I want to go home to
boeber, dhaltjies, samoosas and pies.
Remembering a time when Thair and I
would ‘wait for the light’
so we could eat our loquats that we picked off the tree that day.
I want to see my beautiful and amazing grandmother
Hug her tightly
and wish her Eid Mubarak.

I want to sit around the table at Aneesa’s house
Telling all my stories and listening to all their stories.
Feel the warmth and laughter… so genuine so caring.
And see all my cousins at Azi’s house…
happy that we’re all together again
happy that we can make time to spend an evening in each others company

I want to drive to the Waterfront,
past the beautiful mountain with the wildebeest,
past the Civic Centre with the huge portrait of Nelson Mandela,
past the Harbour,
and experience that feeling of belonging with all the ‘loud mense’ around me
and the women with their doekies on,
and the kids running around.
I want to see people of my own colour talking the Cape Town English only we know how to.
Laughing…skelling…making guy.

I want to go home.