What Kind of Times Are These I've walked there picking mushrooms at the edge of dread, but don't be fooled this isn't a Russian poem, this is not somewhere else but here, our country moving closer to its own truth and dread, its ...

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www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51092/...

BLACK ORCHIDS By Norris R McDonald https://afrocaribbeanriddims.substack.com/p/black-orchids They stood on the edge of oblivion Oblivious to the gunshots, terrible terror To strike fear in the once mighty bastion The living prison, that was apartheid horror! 'Twas an indomitable phalanx of sturdy men! And even barefoot women an' children! With heads held high, some valiantly died! To defeat and abolish brutal apartheid! Unsung heroes, there were many Destroying a cruel system of infamy! Blood flowed -- Student bodies piled high Up to Almighty Gawd, their souls did fly! Facing gunshots with chest open wide! BLACK ORCHIDS sprang up where they died! When freedom came ‘twas a glorious day! Freedom! Freedom! We hail it today! Though we may not know, all the name Sharpeville’s' massacred labor’d not in vain Now their valiant souls are enshrined, bold In Sun hued letters of Black, green an' gold! In reverence, mouth-to-mouth, we tell the story Of a new day written in BLACKSTORY Of the BLACK ORCHIDS and blood nourished earth That was mid-wife to South Africa rebirth! Today the struggle must, my friends be continued For South's Africa’ Black Orchids to bloom anew Black Orchids are rare --- they must be treasured! This truth, Our Almighty Gardener, already knew! [Copyright (2025) - Norris R McDonald]

BLACK ORCHIDS By Norris R McDonald https://afrocaribbeanriddims.substack.com/p/black-orchids They stood on the edge of oblivion Oblivious to the gunshots, terrible terror To strike fear in the once mighty bastion The living prison, that was apartheid horror! 'Twas an indomitable phalanx of sturdy men! And even barefoot women an' children! With heads held high, some valiantly died! To defeat and abolish brutal apartheid! Unsung heroes, there were many Destroying a cruel system of infamy! Blood flowed -- Student bodies piled high Up to Almighty Gawd, their souls did fly! Facing gunshots with chest open wide! BLACK ORCHIDS sprang up where they died! When freedom came ‘twas a glorious day! Freedom! Freedom! We hail it today! Though we may not know, all the name Sharpeville’s' massacred labor’d not in vain Now their valiant souls are enshrined, bold In Sun hued letters of Black, green an' gold! In reverence, mouth-to-mouth, we tell the story Of a new day written in BLACKSTORY Of the BLACK ORCHIDS and blood nourished earth That was mid-wife to South Africa rebirth! Today the struggle must, my friends be continued For South's Africa’ Black Orchids to bloom anew Black Orchids are rare --- they must be treasured! This truth, Our Almighty Gardener, already knew! [Copyright (2025) - Norris R McDonald]

BLACK ORCHIDS, Poem by Norris R McDonald
afrocaribbeanriddims.substack.com/p/black-orch...
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