Poetry

John Martinez Pavliga photo

By

Prosper Kavunika

Afrika My Afrika

Afrika you are known for your thousand warriors

You are known for your thousand legends

You are known for your thousand kingdoms

You are known for your thousand dynasties

You are known for your thousand tribes

You are known for your thousand tales

BUT……

While you were busy slaughtering each other to become warriors

While you were busy feeding each other with superstition to become legends

While you were busy conquering and tearing each other to form kingdoms

While you were busy enslaving and abusing each other to have strong dynasties

Whilst you were busy splitting each other to form those thousand tribes

Whilst you were busy taking turns to utter to each other those thousand tales

THEY….

Were busy casting lots amongst themselves to see who gets the bigger portion of Afrika

Were busy harvesting yOur acacia, palm and bamboo trees

Were busy clearing up yOur equatorial rainforest

Were busy grazing yOur savanna grasslands

Were busy deflowering yOur virgin land

Were busy digging trenches and deep holes uprooting all yOur gemstones

Afrika my Afrika

You were overpowered by your quest to give birth to many warriors

You got carried away by your will to be known for legends

You drowned away in that pool of many kingdoms

You were so zealous in becoming a strong dynasty

You caused more confusion within yourself with your own tongue

Your tales blinded you

Many decades even after their footprints have since long disappeared from the paths in the equatorial rainforest

We are yet to heal from the scars they left on us

Many years even after their tracks have since vanished from those windy deserts up north

We are still yet to recover from the anguish we endured

Many seasons even after their scent have since melted off from the savanna grasslands

We are still yet to identify ourselves

Afrika my Afrika

Look at your triplets Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea

Libya has been drained out dry

Restrain your children Rwanda and Burundi

Reason with your son Nigeria

Protect your daughter Congo

Remind your son down south that we are all Afrikans

Prosper Kavunika

Zimbabwean born writer, an afrocentric social commentator who is provocative in his approach but at the same time advocating to bring back that decency we once had.