cancer in paradise (ambiguous Africa)
the cancer in paradise (Ambiguous Africa)
Africa you have given me my childhood years,
in you i know my friendships and my fears,
i have shed many tears on you,
for you,
and against you
in you i have energetically bounced up and down,
in you i have played and learned and loved...
like a mother you have fed us,
you harnessed us,
you have kept us free from droning earthquakes and wild wirling winds,
but you could not stop the drought,
you couldn not stop the childs of your womb from fearlessly killing one another,
from slaughtering their neigbours with machette's and
from raping your daughters and your mothers and orphaning your sons.
have you done this with the thought that our tears might one day cure your draughts?
that our cries might one day fill your skies and clear the heavens for you to see?
that our corpses might pile up and once again turn into the land we exploited so?
is this the price to pay for living in such a way,
is this the price we have to pay for your green pastures and open fields?
for your vibrant cultures and your magnificent plains?
for loving you so?
africa, motherland, continent, father heart, how can we drive those parasitic ideas and ideals,
the sickness of our your heart,
into remmision?
africa teach us, make us wise, let us draw on your knowledge and the wiseness of your years,
educate us from centuries and milleniums of heartbreak and dispair,
how we can make our brothers and sisters see,
and hear and feel,
and live...
poem by Bernard Thorpe
Added by Poetry Lover
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