africa day reflections - Jabulani Mzinyathi


behind it all
our unmistakeable resilience

the abundance of hope
for we are no pessimists

the reality plain to see
africa bleeding profusely

fires of discord fanned
the beneficiaries in glee

robbed of childhood
playing fields bereft of children

high on lsd, heroin, mandrax...
raping, robbing, killing with impunity

the hidden hand at it
propping unpopular regimes

the ever widening chasms
bickering over foreign ideas

africa bleeding profusely
somewhere they drink the blood

the prophets long said it
the richest place, home to the poorest race

in somalia, sudan, ethiopia
everywhere the bloody feuding

the scramble for blood diamonds
everywhere death and destruction

beneath all this desolation
the undying hope sprouting

6 comments:

Kwadwo Oteng Owusu said...

..really, this present some notable issues for our consideration..but inasmuch as i agree to this hidden hand philosophy, i strongly believe, Africa is the cause of its own misfortunes and troubles!!!!....we must awake..!!!! Good piece!!!!

Darko Antwi said...

Once a Pan-Africanist, always a Pan-Africanist. Jabulani's verse unviels the good heart any patriot has for the African people.

Great! but greater works will you write, if you will believe.

Unknown said...

thanks for all the comments. we have to do a lot for ourselves indeed. we have to unite. we must rid ourselves of the divisions created back then at the looters conference in berlin in 1884.african unity must be fostered.we have to move fast. the au should not be a mere talk shop. we need action and real benefits for our people.so much for the pan african ideals.on the poetic side of things i pray that our people should not view this as elitist. we must strive to make poetry more accessible!

Anonymous said...

Well seems the lust for greed is still bigger than the desire to abolish need.
Have faith the most beautiful,magic, moment for democracy is sunrise when global darkness bows down to light and all vampires --sucking the blood of their people go up in a puff of smoke.Silverzorro.

LS said...

I have no problem with Pan Africanism, except where its agenda begins and ends with the double tropes of a romantic past and eternal victimhoom.

The problem with following the Chinweizuan line too closely is that more often than not, it mutes art and promotes propaganda. That's all good so long as the poet is aware of what/he she is doing.

Maybe we need an 'Africa Month' instead of a day in order to have the time and space in which to examine these issues more closely.

Still, I may be wrong.

Cheers

Anonymous said...

good points and the details are more precise than elsewhere, thanks.

- Thomas