The River Remembers It All

The river remembers it all

Where the mountain’s streams

come together in the river

that makes its way

to the sea

There used to be

a place of separation

where not everyone

could be

This river flows like history

a body of memory

winding through the leafy suburbs

of the well-off bourgeoisie

We can live in these spaces like there are no traces

but the river remembers it all

from Newlands to Mowbray from Woodstock to the sea

this river remembers it all, this river remembers it all

Follow the Liesbek

from its pristine source

to where it meets

Black River

From the colonizers,

and the conquistadors

to the Apartheid state

and the ghosts of war

This river flows like history

of tormented bodies and souls

from the ghost of d’Almeida to the cries of Robben Island

and that’s just how the story goes

We can live in these spaces like there are no traces

but the river remembers it all

from Newlands to Mowbray from Woodstock to the sea

this river remembers it all, this river remembers it all

Now loaded speculators and property developers converge on these sacred halls

Boutique hotels and upmarket condos to cover up the specters of it all

We can live in these spaces like there are no traces

but the river remembers it all

from Newlands to Mowbray from Woodstock to the sea

this river remembers it all, this river remembers it all