Where do people go
Every second and minute
In full glare of our eyes
Only we do not see
Our eyes see only what they are meant to see
We do not notice what we are meant not to see

When I am fully awake
Senses running high at full speed
Totally sane and conscious
Yet my mind transports me
Into places unknown to me
Places only remembered in subconscious state
So I can bear no witness to their existence

Where do people go
At night when we go to bed
Or when overwhelmed by spell of deep sleep
Causing us to abandon all
And give way to the needs of my other state of being
Ascended to deep sleep
Only we call it dreams
For this is too much
For anyone to understand

Where was I last night
In that deep snore and turning around
My body completely defenseless
Unguarded and seemingly neglected
While my spirit wastes in Lala-land
Some call it Dreamland
Kanti abantu ba ya kuphi

My body seems possessed
Fully alert yet fully dead
Driven by an unknown force
Zombie state, but fully functional
While the mind is far far away
Only it knows where
Like this is a conspiracy
My mind and soul together
Ganging against my conscious state

And when this body has had enough
Or is it in response to a higher calling?
I drop dead unconscious
Only alive in shape and form
Yet totally incapacitated in the human form
Where exactly did I go?
That my body cannot respond
Until my higher calling has been answered

Na batho ba fella kae
Ho na teng ha maotwana finyela
Teng ha mofu mofunyetsa pere
Into the unknown, yet the understood
Like the brain is mysteriously communicating
In a state beyond my conscious understanding
Yet subconsciously conversing
In this language foreign to my awake state

How exactly does it happen
That I am here now
But in another space at the same time
With the godly state dominating my life
Spending most it dreaming, thinking, dozing off
About things I can never remember
No matter how hard I may try

Where do people go
Somebody please tell me
Where do I go everytime my mind rescends
Into this state of the unknown
My soul departing from my being
Going to no mans land
A place higher than a human can ever understand
Where on earth is that place?

How many states do I have
How much of my life am I aware of
How sure am I that even now, as we speak
That this is not a dream
Or one of life’s mysteries
Never to be revealed to me
As I continue on this life

One moment I am
The next I transcend into a world
Far far higher and bigger
Than my present state can endure
I hence remain oblivious to my transitions
Moving from one life to the next
Without ever noticing my escapades

How many lives does a human live?
And how many does a man remember?
With absolute certainty, that indeed this is my life
Sometimes betrayed by slipping thoughts
That turn my life upside down
Leaving me doubting if I was awake or dreaming
Yet some things remain crystal clear in my mind
Only I can never prove them
They remain a distant distinct reality
As my different lives cross paths

Where do people go
Ngithi bayakuphi kanti abantu
Na batho ba ya kae
In this Lala-land of mystery
Where conscious people do not go
And those who dare do never return
Mysterious is Lala-land

By Fezekile Futhwa