Atta Wa Mills - Mbizo Chirasha

Tireless tongue of mother earth
You painted our sunlight purple with bruises
Bruises of tears, sweat and grief, darkness abound
Dear mother earth your scorching tongue, burnt again our tender hearts
Daughters of Serengeti are weeping, sons of Nzinga are sweating
Children and grey heads withering in the hot desert of sorrow
Granite of hope exfoliated by double loss, loss of life and loss of a leader
Atta Wa Mills last night you dined with ghost of father Africa Nkrumah
I dreamt you dancing Mbaqanga with Sisulu, breakfasting sweet potatoes with father Tanganyika
You confided with the shadow of Kenyatta behind the black hills of once Ivory Coast
Atta Wa Mills you left scars in the valleys of consciences
You also left blooms and buds of hope underneath the anthills of this generation
Today we sing you a eulogy not of goodbye, but on our poetic lips you remain
We embrace the soul of Ghana in the wings of our metaphor
Sleep well son of African daughter, Sleep well political grey horn



Mbizo Chirasha is a Zimbabwean poet and regular contributor to One Ghana, One Voice.

If you have a poem in memory of President Mills, please send it to us at oneghanaonevoice(at)gmail(dot)com.

2 comments:

oneghanaonevoice said...

Great thanks guys for publishing the poem ,iam grateful.He was really a leader.

Rob Taylor said...

You're welcome, Mbizo. It's a great honour to be able to present all of these memorial poems from people across Ghana and throughout Africa.

And just so others are clear, the first comment on this post was from Mbizo, not from OGOV staff.