PORTRAIT OF AN OLD PAIR OF SHOES Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali

Tanned as

a hide of a hefty heifer, 

carved by the craftsman's scalpel, 

and shined to a shimmering blackness a

s of liquid tar piping hot.

To go through life

carrying an itchy-footed man 

reeking from a beerhall 

shuffling to jail

swaying to hospital.

Scuffed to a decrepit state 

of soles stabbed by daggers of wanderlust, 

then abandoned on a city pavement. 

Waiting to be carted by the refuse remover's truck 

for a pauper's funeral in a dumping ground.