Poem: Here We Are

In this poem, “Here We Are,” Siya Dlamini, a Swati poet and cultural curator based in Mbabane, Eswatini, gathers collective voice and image into a meditation on origin and becoming. Opening with a shared declaration, the piece moves from cloud and wind to altar and ash, tracing how a generation shaped by memory and prophecy negotiates identity, inheritance, and creative rebirth. Through motifs of vibration, sacrifice, and flight, Dlamini continues his broader exploration of tradition, modernity, and storytelling as legacy, inviting readers to consider presence as both question and offering.

Here we are

cascading from the edges of cloud,

We are like the wind hovering.

Where we come from or going still remains a mystery.

Here we are

in a world painted by the humming of lips,

conceived in these hazy rhythm and blues.

This is the planet we choose where currency has always been vibrations and frequency.

Here we are burning from within,

like sacrifice on the altar of dreams.

We are descendants of dust and civilians of smoke. Our life is a must, fulfilling what they spoke.

From the masses we are cast,

but our riches can they lock?

Here with our present in the past,

our future will invoke every ounce of truth,

hidden from our youth.

Here we are groundbreaking and shaking.

Whatever is lacking, we are making.

And whenever the ground beneath our feet

can no longer carry us,

We reincarnate Icarus.

But this time, only flying at dusk.

And that explains why we are here.