Editor –
The shameful and barbaric persecution of celebrated author Tsitsi Dangarembga by the autocratic junta in Zimbabwe is a brutal assault to free speech and free expression. I dedicate this poem in solidarity with the affable Dangarebga!

THE HOUR GLASS

Under candle light,
Reflecting last night,
The melting memory
Wax of affable Tsitsi,
The mental ethanol
At the foot of
Our candle stick!
Merciful Giver rescue
Her dim soul wagon
Jackknifed between
The go and stop twins
Of life traffic lights.
Infidels have hijacked
And mutilated free speech!
Were anger, the fuel ink
In the tank of politics,
She navigates not on the wrong lane
Yet in filthy dock her fate she learns,
Were prison cells potato fields,
We would consume our Democracy
Longing for Freedom Day.
My Tsitsi! My citizen! My Icon!

By Collen Kajokoto

-Kajokoto is a persecuted Zimbabwe poet and a human rights defenders.