THE AFRICAN QUESTION

THE AFRICAN QUESTION

By the ground of the village square

A wild monstrous beast came

From the jungle behind the African oil bean tree

Dressed up with bullets, charms and tattoos

With machete in hand waiting and gourds on every door-step

To collect the flooding blood and tears

Of wailing women and children

The men too perish fighting to defend the chief-doms

What has befallen this once blessed land?

Is worse than the destruction of summer

What cleansing powers in communal suicidal tempers

Wedded in land disputes

Wedded in centuries old rivalries

Once innocent children lead the bridal rites

Ushering the groom in Angola, in Congo

In Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Uganda

Ah! Not forgetting Rwanda!

When anger supersedes sanity

Compatriots transform into uncontrollable

Tattooed all over in tags of disgrace

Even carrying shamelessly the name “Rebel”

Rebel war based on greed is ugly

Rebel war is genocide

The atrocities of rebel war are evil

Amputated limbs are stock-piled as wood

For road blocks from those who dare to venture

Human heads are seen as sign posts

To announce the impending danger for those who dare

To cross into the heart of the hinterland

Where corpses are smashed as banana

Leaving the future without hope

What sacrifices do I offer?

To end miseries guided by multiple great misfortunes

In bitter conflicts and futile accords

Where reward for sacrifice has lost its meaning?

Is this a game in futility?

What confidence in the expanded armories do we have?

When our masters continue in far away lands

O, defenders of democratic governance

Even freedom and human rights

Supply lethal arsenals in the game

To enrich our folly in doomed victory

As we burn houses, loot, maim and kill.

Alas, our kith and kin!

Tell me brothers

What are we fighting for?

The end to these dark tunnels and hollowed nights

Remains unreachable if we do not stop the carnage

There will be no peace or place for our lives;

Only the vultures will feed on the corpses

What’s in this game?

W ho will teach our sons and daughters

To refrain from our stagnation in the dark,

To build barriers against the warring frontiers,

To save the trees from crying

To stop the sea erosion of African continent

To change Africa’s questioning form and mark

To love one another and be our brothers’ keeper

And to establish a unity of peace and progress

For this is the only way

This is the reality for our race to survive

This is the hope