Two Before Madiba - For Marco Gerhard

The moment of birth - LIFE!
Non-biblical.
Miracle.
Kicking and screaming,
Not you.

The power to create - LIFE!
Feeling
Meaning.
The thrill of gravity,
You’re here.

The beauty and pain - LIFE!
Uplifting
Fulfilling
The brilliance of sight,
Welcome.

The quest for meaning - LIFE!
Infinity
Emotionality.
The purity of July 16,
Preserve it.

The baton twice passed - LIFE!
Fertility
Eternity.
The question is "why",
Ask it.

My brother’s passion - LIFE!
Marco
Mark.
Rubicon of 96,
My namesake.

We will connect……

I penned this at 20h15 on Thursday, July 11, 1996. My friends Gerhard and Liana Schröder were about to give birth to their second son in Pretoria, South Africa, and I was sitting in the Klementinum Mirror Hall in Prague, Czech Republic listening to a recital by the Stellenbosch University Choir...and thinking of them. Gerhard had asked me whether he could style his son's name after mine (using the form Marco), and I had proudly consented. Five days later the little man was born, and I had a poem to send them straight away!

Originally I called this piece "Soweto Plus a Month - For Marco Gerhard" as the birth took place exactly a month after the anniversary of the Soweto uprising of June 16, 1976 that created the momentum that ultimately led to the fall of Apartheid in South Africa. However, today is Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday, and Marco's celebrated his just two days earlier. I love and respect Madiba, and Marco is my beloved godson and so I think it's fitting (on the week that they both celebrate their existence) to change the title to something more uplifting, namely "Two Before Madiba - For Marco Gerhard". I hope that's OK with both of them...and long may they prosper!

Cheers MAlfaRK ©