http://penastory.com/2015/12/16/africa-is-now/

Let us stop for a moment

Take a look around us

Feast our eyes on the carnage

That envelops us

Does shame not threaten to swallow us up?

When we turn away

And say “these Africans self”?

Do we not feel a pang of guilt?

When we absolve ourselves?

When we put on proudly the cloak of self righteousness?

And refuse to be the change that we voice ever so often?

When we flee without looking back at the first chance we get

Across seas, mountains and deserts

To places we wish was home

Suburbs with white picket fences

Where it snows on Christmas

And Harmattan does not crack skins?

When we wish our skins wasn’t made of black?

Africa looks at us

And shakes Her head in pity

For we know nothing

For we are blind

Africa is now!



We, who have broken skins

Of our brothers and sisters

We who have watched in glee

As the crimson blood flowed

Against the brown skin

Unto the soil, mixing with Ani

Does it not churn our stomachs?

Taking the lives of our kinsmen

Is it not shameful, the way we allow greed and hate

Swallow our hearts and souls?

The way we have eschewed love in all of it forms

Hiding under the canopy of religion

To perpetrate wickedness

Selectively reading our holy books

Turning them to hateful propaganda

Is it not foolish, that we squabble

Over land that is ours already?

Do we not think of our children and the ones they will have

When we deliberately pollute Ani?

When in our greed we stab ourselves in our own backs?

A sabotage of ourselves

Africa never taught us to hate

She looks at us and shakes her head

For we know nothing

For we are blind

Africa is now!



Africa,

Beautiful Africa,

Where man first walked,

Farmed, created civilization,

Where man first wrote

From where Pharaohs in majesty ruled the world

And in her bosom lies mighty Nubian kings

On her, the great kingdom of Zimbabwe

Built magnificent walls

Ghana, Mali and Sonni Ali’s Songhai flourished

While the world wasted in deadly darkness.

Africa,

Where colours and tongues

Cultures, traditions and religions

Melt, fuse and beautify

Where our children are bountiful

Ready to take our future today

Refusing to be posters for poverty.

Where Thebes and Timbuktu prospered

Lagos, Cairo, Johannesburg, Nairobi

So many more, now light the path

For our children, leading them to

Our certain place in the world

On the top. Join us now,

Remove from your head

The image of animals in the wild

Of kwashiorkor ridden children

Africa calls,

Listen, Africa is now!

http://penastory.com/2015/12/16/africa-is-now/

Beautiful piece.

Its really a good read...