A Disarming Innocence--By Ndaba Sibanda--Saudi Arabia

A Disarming Innocence

today I saw with my naked eyes

the beauty of young life and innocence

as kids sang their songs with verve and free will   

my eyes fell on the humaneness of their hearts—

a humaneness whose tributaries radiated

a blind love across their contrasts and matches  

today I heard with my thrilled ears

the spills and thrills that the young ones

unleash when they are together celebrating life

I prayed that someone would not be flooding them

with trauma, or turn a blind eye to a swarm of pedophiles

because the kids’ innocence should be an adult’s diligence

Ndaba Sibanda is a Zimbabwean-born writer. His poems, essays and short stories have been published in Africa and the USA. Ndaba currently lives and teaches in Saudi Arabia. Of his career, he says, "writing is my life, and my second wife.”