Freedom Train - Outspoken


Still inside the station waiting on the freedom train
Its inspector came to check on our tickets if we had paid
Finally my people shall be home amongst their relatives and peers
They could hardly wait to see the city’s horizon slowly disappear into the distance
It was one train with many classes the luxurious was the first,
Then came the middle class citizens and then the economy- that is the worst
Not because of its occupants but mainly their conditions
Where they were packed like animals, sweating like the steam engines!
“All aboard!” that was freedoms last call
The destination was democracy, equality for all, but a few
The few being the masses in the last
That were disposable to benefit the upper class
“Tickets! Tickets please! Amai you did not pay!
Do you think you are going to get a free ride on the freedom train?”
He can clearly see she is sick and in need of urgent assistance
“Amai, I am not a doctor, all I want from you is your ticket!’
So another passenger dies for she could not afford
The medication for her ailments, so she succumbed to her sores
Across the masses gathered was a hovering of pain
Another one of us departed from the freedom train
Mountains rolled and valleys passed the few that had the view
Aboard this runaway train of passengers without a crew, but the inspector
They huddled praying justice would prevail
But lived within the laws of physics, so they were destined to derail
A pregnant mother squirmed as her water broke in panick
Hope was her unborn daughter but her birth was none but tragic
She only saw the light of day minutes before the crash
Sucked back into a darkness with radiance everlasting
Everyday the death toll rises from the freedom trains wreckage
That never saw democracy but destined us to heaven
Through a passage of pain and tribulation attached
That only seems to affect those of us stuck in economy class
If only the inspector started checking on the drivers
There wouldn’t be this ugly scene of checking on survivors
18 April 1980 was the day we left the station
Aboard the freedom train, but still haven’t reached our destination
… Freedom!



"Freedom Train" is part five of our five-part series of poems by Ghanaians on Zimbabwe (though this one is by a Zimbabwean!). To read previous contributions, click here.

3 comments:

Agyei Adjei-Baah said...

You have left me with nothing to say.Your poem touches to the core of the heart.Its so sad to see the masses being turned into carpet of grasses.Democracy is never freedom for all and sundry.The cat will lick whiles the will watch.

Patrick Astingah said...

The British Council should hear about this site! You guys should reach out to them! Wow

Kae Sun said...

this is an extremely powerful poem. Sums up the troubles of oppressed peoples in most of the world. Zimbabwe will be free again my brother
One Love!