For Helen Suzman

When you have crossed range of mountains
Do you crave the quiet of the valleys
Or the thrills of peaks
Is time your friend
A record of treasured possessions
Which ones do you throw away
Which ones do you keep
Do people know the depths mined
To reach the heights of your accolades
Do they know the heart of the night
Where the stories of the silent remain

In a country made of blinded mouths
What does it take to speak
To speak while others are shouting
To speak while others are dying
To speak while others are silenced
To speak while others are hiding
To speak while the world listens
To speak while the future watches

Its not how fast time moves
It’s the distance
It’s not the answers
It’s the questions
It’s not the sorrow
It’s the lessons
It’s not what is taken
It’s what has been given
It’s not how we die
It’s this life we are living
It’s not how we survive
It’s how we alter the space we live in
It’s not how long we deny
But the moment we give in
It’s not the realm of the wise
But the domain of the children
Which can be seen by the eye
That knows tomorrow before it is lived in

Mrs Suzman tell us what tomorrow looks like
Can you see it in the darkness of prisons
Is it in the look in the eye of a peaceful man
Who is killed in front of his two children
Is it somewhere beyond our own plane and time
Is it inside the walls that we live in
Is it the property of the privileged few
Or is it understanding that humanity is a privilege

By Lebo Mashile

Helen Suzman fue la más célebre activista blanca contra el Apartaid. Fue Paralamentaria por 35 años y murió en el año 2009 en Johanesburgo, Suráfrica.