A Modern Take on Faith
- Sep 17, 2021
- 2 min read
by Sihle Ntuli
an Ethiopian man sprints along the streets of downtown Jerusalem — shouting “the second coming is near!” — the locals barely bat an eyelid or flinch at the boisterous proclamations coming from his mouth : they will ignore his peculiar pace & the miraculousness of his willpower : borne from the skepticism of one deceptive boy who cried — here the old man is the lone wolf : his religious awakening is attributed to mental health delusions : two young men in white coats chase him — the whole way reminding him that he is senile : a shepherd named Bushiri once preached about being grounded in one’s beliefs before his own great escape — teleporting across the border to Malawi to avoid the cold steel bars of a South African prison : the whole thing makes one wonder how would it really be in the moments of the second coming — & would it be broadcast LIVE! on Al Jazeera : how would they work the complex camera angles of the field reporter : on the news of the elderly man eventually collapsed and was martyred for his faith — one camera pans around a body draped beneath a black sheet right — there on the hallowed steps of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre : one silhouette, the caution tape, the multitudes of blue & red lights flashing where faith died as nameless as the eunuch in the book of acts : & the sheer swiftness of these things — by the next hour a new headline it will be almost as if the death in Jerusalem never even happened.
Sihle Ntuli is poet and classicist from Durban. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Classical Civilisations and has lectured previously at the University of the Free State. He is the author of Rumblin (uHlanga 2020) and has had work published in notable publications such as Lolwe & The Rumpus. His poetry was shortlisted for the DALRO Poetry Prize in 2017. He currently lives in Durban.
