Terminal

Illustration by Tristan Barnard

Terminal

Press D if you feel depressed
about the cards life has dealt you.
You keep them close, avert the eyes
fleeting across the room
eager at their unveiling.
Don’t want to leave the table
but if your chips run out
the cold night street awaits you.

Press M to impress
those Desire dictates you deserve.
The girl that haunts your dreams,
your friendship her bodyguard.
The boss in charge at work
of your bread, ball and chain.
The parents you ever so eager
want a congrats and approval from.

Press O if you feel oppressed
by the machinations of society.
Race, gender, religion,
culture, disability, heritage:
pushing you from all six sides
into a cubicle fit for a cube.
Curved corners the only sign
that you were once a sphere.

Press S for an espress-o yes,
how desperate you must be
to oil those dusty cogs
that screech loud inside your head.
But oil them you must keep
for dust gathers as dust does
ever quicker until a crash
your clock falls into downtime.

Press X to express yourself.
Let the flame caught inside
melt the icy capsule encapsulating
a hearth heart burning to be felt
by a person, no, the world.
Let it scorch their skin
to mark the remembrance
of the hug in the aftermath.

Lourens van Niekerk

BSc Mathematics Honours,
STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY

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