MAMA AFRICA!
Africa, only you I really miss
Everything about you is in my mind, in my heart, and in my soul.
Guess what is my only wish?
To be buried in your arms when I am old.
From the morning mist
That envelopes your rolling fields
To the sun setting with children’s screams
Happily playing with make-shift toys on your quiet streets
The friendly dogs enjoy their games of hide-and-seek
And the Mamas carrying their wares
To the street corner to prepare
Their fried evening snacks for passers-by to enjoy
On their way home from a day of toil.
The rustle of the leaves in your evergreen trees
And the birds rushing around for crumbs to eat
While the cats hopelessly target them with sleaze
Or, the lazy lizards bathing in the scorching heat
Alert, for the mosquitoes, to eat.
The heavy-laden wares on street vendors’ heads
Walking all day with such grace and ease
Unfettered, with the heat and nothing to eat
Would’ve left anyone else certainly dead!
Your simple homes yet so clean and so neat
Would leave anyone else ashamed of their wealth
Accumulating clutter in their gloss and glamor
Unhappy in their abode and with weak health.
Your attitude so relaxed and carefree
Ever unfathomable to so many
Leaves them green with envy
That despite all your poverty
You remain ever so happy.
Little do they know
More than happiness, it is a joy
From deep within, it glows.
Your women argue so heatedly
While your laid-back men ignore them so wisely
Until they calm down progressively
Then make every attempt to pacify their men consolingly.
Publicly, your men assert themselves nervously
While others intercede to diffuse their anger, peacefully
Ensuring everyone leaves the scene happily.
Your lovely people age so gracefully
Everyone respects their age so reverently
Seeking their counsel endlessly
Accepting their rare interventions in humility.
If children wander around aimlessly
Everyone assists them protectively
No one daring to exploit them deviously.
Seduction is an art you have mastered suavely
Displaying it ever so tactfully
With credible compliments, so eloquently
And physical contact, so affectionately
That one eventually succumbs willingly
Never imposing it forcefully.
The perspective in other countries
Is wealth and materialism in priority
When in your case, it is ambition
Constantly striving for achievement successfully
Never losing sense of your relational priorities
Nor the respect for your family
Or social hierarchy.
When you assist, you do so, so generously
Out of the little you have, so happily.
Never have I encountered such modesty
Where the rich pass unobtrusively
Not in any other society
Unafraid, in any community.
The future is for you Africa
While the rest of the world sinks into gloom
The architects of their own decadence and doom.
Not because I say so
I am a person no one knows
But you have taught me so much about life
Even in my low moments of strife
I have so willingly learned
That with which the world is least concerned
Love and respect for one another
Just as the Divine has ordained
And you do it better than any other!
Africa, you are blessed
Not only in your abundant wealth
And you will remain eternally blessed
Because of your spiritual wisdom and strength.
Nowhere have I encountered such faith sublime
So ardent and committed to the Divine
As in your people so willingly inclined
Yet so patient and tolerant of humankind
Despite exploitation or oppression, you never decline.
Tolerant of your fate in the quest for progress
You take the burdensome steps to achieve your success.
I may not be of your lineage
But when I am with you, I forget my color
Not out of fear of any barrier
But because you accept me as your older brother.
I cannot find all the words to complete my dedicated poem
But after a lifetime of living in the space I call my home
My gratitude, love, and devotion
Can never be compressed into a simple poem.
I shall write so much more in tribute to you
To make this mad world restrain
From their unquenchable greed and gain
To them I singularly proclaim
That Africa’s Wisdom we should seek to emulate
If we intend to progress and regenerate
Otherwise, we shall obliterate
Every shred of human dignity.
Africa, you are a school where one can never satiate
The overwhelming desire to learn more
If only we seek to understand your mores
We shall be able to educate those humanely illiterate.
I pledge my love and dedication to you
I have found nowhere else to match your love
In your values, no one shall rise above.
Sammy RNAJ
WhatsApp +96170499352
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