AFRICA AND LIFE Follow blog

AFRICA CAN LIVE

A sweet, scented flower you were

Beckoning on nectar-loving pollinators

Full of energy, vigour and life

Blessed in diverse, beautiful ways

Is it the flora and fauna you did not create?

Or the sun that gives you light and warmth?

Precious ores you never buried?

Well, they remain your creator’s little secret

Diversity in colour and culture?

The taste of liberty you had at a time?

Or the look of triumph you once gave the world?

You bore light for your six siblings

But did you envision your offspring with clashing swords?

Or your deserts extending to vegetation?

Your petals ripped in shreds with no pity?

Did you feel that your elements would one day speak disaster and terror?

Your footprints erased? Or your flame extinguished?

Did you ever imagine your spark in the mud?

Your young, resources scampering for safety/

You fell! With your back to the ground!

Why do you look alienated?

You lost your balance, your evenness too

Why does the warmth you emit feel so strange?

Why has nature become a terror to you?

Quakes of the earth, the wind’s insanity

The wildness of the seas, or the gases that raid you now

The folds of your robes lie empty

Nobles who promised to stop the bullet for you

They stay right behind the gun, hands on trigger

Devising discord and hate

Treason! Treachery!

You became a hotbed for plague, brutality and insecurity

Can we blame time? Or man?

Ethnic war or diversity?

What will these make of you?

Words are preached into man’s deafened ears

Shivering spines and chattering teeth

Wavering truth and wasted prime

Crime as filth, litter your zones

What tale will you tell your unborn?

Under what layer will your narration be?

This depleted one? Sad!

You support man’s existence, yet he remains an ingrate

I dread the years approaching

The speed of time, and this impending dearth

Well, the future you fear can be erased

One you desire can be built anew

When all that obstructs your rays are removed

You’ll beam as you ought

When your inhibitors are removed too

You’ll run, leap, then soar

Rise, you too were endowed

Open your eyes to the values you once cherished

I envision change…..you’re growing into power again

Technology can be handled wisely

Industrialization can be less destructive

Idle hands can be engaged too

Streams can spring up in deserts too

Before your last petal falls, you’ll resurrect

You hold the reins of your climate, abundance and beauty

You’re not just a continent, you’re a mother of many nations

You’re my Africa!