---
title: "Hintsa's ghost: a murder poem in three parts"
description: "A poem by ANDREW MILLER."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Maverick Life"
author: "Andrew Miller"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/andrewmiller/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-06-07-hintsas-ghost-a-murder-poem-in-three-parts/"
published: "2013-06-07T01:08:01"
updated: "2013-06-07T01:08:03"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 273
---

# Hintsa's ghost: a murder poem in three parts

> A poem by ANDREW MILLER.

By Andrew Miller · Published 7 June 2013, 03:08 SAST · Updated 7 June 2013, 03:08 SAST

## Content

realisation

let us start at the beginning

let us correct what we all know

let us admit the myth

let us concede:

good people seldom change the world

it is the narrow

it is the shallow

it is the cold hearted

who rape

who steal

who push countries across boundaries

products into arms

brandy into mouths

with a bible

let us start at the beginning…

maybe it will help

con

having shot the man

hands high in the river

the escape failed

they pulled at his teeth

they tried to cut off his ear

they were digging for the souvenir

they were digging for the totem

but of course the best was not from the body

today the family run a farm and lodge

and

on the bed a pamphlet

- family ancestry

but on the bed nothing

nothing at all

of hintsa

or his ghost

memory

the story is left behind

the autobiographies are written

the mythology is nearly set

the brushing

is

very nearly

complete

the con is forgotten

or

the con is ignored:

the murder of a king.

sir harry smith

sir benjamin durban

the men who swept clean

the men who could see

the day the cattle would die.

after all of this

after hundreds

and hundreds

of years

they are,

almost,

all we have left

what a strange

and terrible

thing **DM**

*Andrew Miller is a Jo’burg based freelance writer and poet. He ghost-writes for a lot of fat bellies, CEO and politicians and has also spent a lot of time working and performing on the Jozi street arts scene. Find more of Millers writing at*[http://periodiccomposition.wordpress.com/](http://periodiccomposition.wordpress.com/)*.*