Beautiful Dogs of Gyel

Chased to the mountains, the beautiful dogs of Gyel

To till the hard ground and build on 

a peace uneven, like the rocks they now have to call
home - un-pliable unlike the road with -

no toilet in schools, plump dogs in perfidy

To still in slum where every beard is a suspect
dogs resilient, friendly, loyal and strong
forge a life on timber where poor don’t even come close
segregated Like Jo’burg, zinc shack slum up on rocks
holes in the ground as water sources
since mountains are river eggs
with poverty comes prostitution. Dogs and their
aerosol sniff, Debauchery as a crutch
forcing recognition from a hole in a fence
where no matter how sterile the land is combed
corn hubs and dry stalks litter to be gathered for fire

to feed Vaseline smiles from plump faces

they are friendly, they are warm, they are stolen from
but are they worn?






by

Victor Samuel