Africa,

The Greeks called you Ethiopia—

The kingdom of the burned faces

You sent Aesop to tell fables

You gave Alexandria to teach

Aristotle, Pythagoras,

Plato…all they needed to know.

Indeed, those were the days when men

“Looked to Egypt for all their lore”.

Today you’re a divided land

Where multifarious customs

And extraordinary music

Embalm the toiling feet of your

Multitudinous sons and daughters.

Africa,

The Romans revered your bold sons.

You sent Septimius Severus

To drown the Parthians in defeat;

From your mighty gushing rivers

More of your sons flooded regal Rome.

Today, you give us a hot desert

Where we build shrines to healing moisture,

For rain is a blessing from Thoth

Shango, Shaka, Cetshwayo…

Africa,

The Yemenites knew your daughters.

You gave Sheba Queen Makeba,

She sat on her throne with wisdom;

Solomon she ruled with beauty,

Together they gave Menelik

To Ethiopia, her future emperor

Today, your Emperors and Empresses

Prostrate themselves for lack of wealth,

At the god of greed and hatred.

Africa,

You gave Ancient great foundations:

Your greatest architect, Zoser

Your multi-genius, Imhotep

Your warrior pharaoh, Tarqua—

Men whose temples lie in ruins,

But whose legends still stand firm in

Lands now growing in poverty

Ushering in hunger and AIDS—

Oh the contempt! Your mind, abused

Is now strewn in ashes of abyss

Africa.

Africa,

History is written by victors!

For Maya, you’re carved in history

By hands with “bitter twisted” motives;

Yet your heart, though stretched and torn,

Still contains the strength to forgive:

How else can we explain your endurance

After years and years of beatings?

It’s because the flag that blows love

Is still waving boldly inside your heart.

Africa,

It’s true that you have been worn out;

But you haven’t been defeated!

I can say with firm confidence

You have built walls to resist defeat.

Our modern walls erected by:

Lumumba, Kenyatta, Nkrumah,

Cabral, Garvey, Soyinka, X…

Will erect your future walls in:

The West, South, North and East.

Africa,

Division suffocated you

Its destruction, therefore,

Will clear the air of strife!

Africa,

Where is the light so synonymous

With love, which keeps all things alive?

Where’s that hoover that sucked your light?

Hear, for all your children cry out

With dusty hands and brittle bones,

For love to touch life in them again.

Where’s Worth, is she sat on the wind’s wings

Being blown about from shore to shore?

Uprooted from home, her people

Significance has been stolen

And is languishing visa-less in foreign flags.