On the ninth floor

On the ninth floor
it was on the ninth floor where they plotted
on the ninth floor
the top of the Baobab Hotel
where the gleaming razors were passed out
to the blackfaced maids
from the ninth floor from the ninth
they descended when dawn was lifting its coffin lid
every throat was slit
from the ninth floor
they walked with silent smiles to the suburbs
they scattered
they threw off their clothes
and leaped into the swimming-pools
from the ninth floor Christ descended
and blessed them with his sword.

Published in Quarry '78-'79: New South African Writing