Poetry

Reuters photo

By

Mbizo Chirasha

I will not silence the sun

I

I will not silence the sun,

I will silence the gun,

I am writing a letter to America to sing a different song from another hymn book

I am a peasant drinking water and sipping Coca-Cola,

I learnt English and Coca-Cola

I will not silence the sun, i want to silence the gun

We plough land, to plant sorghum and wheat not Coca-Cola and blood

I am writing a letter to America that i will not silence the sun, I

Want to silence the gun

I am a child of the rainbow and stone

The sun and the river feed my dreams

I am writing a letter to booze sodden political crocodiles and sex sodden propaganda vultures

Whose smell still lingers in our summers

I will not silence the sun, i will silence the gun

I am writing a letter to nicotine burnt brothers and tears bleached mothers,

Holding onto their sun burnt dreams,

I will not silence the sun; i want to silence the gun

I am writing a letter to nights in drizzles of grief and dozing villages

I want to silence the gun; I will not silence the sun

I am writing a letter to the president about hawkers economy and

Festivals of motorcades sirens

freedom is the door to the next generation and it is a candlelight in the bedroom of hope!

I am writing a letter to dissidents farting teargas and hatred in Congo

Congo – my Nagasaki

Darfur my Hiroshima- fermenting coup d’états in breweries of war, pimping the state for

hot bread and slogans

Dissidents plucking off the petals of the revolution, drinking the passion fruit of freedom

I want to silence the gun, i will not silence the sun

I am writing a letter to msholozi, that i will not silence the sun, i will silence the gun

Madiba is no more, a heart break of Azania

The river that carried our smell and totems, the river that coursed with our past

Madiba the summer sun that melted into the hazy mountains, leaving behind

Children wetting the rainbow mat with stale urine, beer- coholics drunk with xenophobia

Hawkers vending guns for gain, Casanovas pimping freedom for slogan.

Black freedom toting fists for revenge, i see people with stones heavy in their hearts,

Trembling in the delight of fading rain, dieting from gossip and fear,

In a country smitten by ego and arrogant ambition

A country that lost its character and everything, infected by moral dementia, drinking from jars of sorrow every dawn

II

I will not silence the sun, i will silence the gun

I will not silence the drums, i want to silence sirens

I love America, i am writing a love letter to America

I will not silence the drums, i want to silence the wind

The wind that brought evils, evils lurking in the waters

I love America, i am writing a letter to the gods of America,

that i hate chocolate coated bitter smiles

III

I am packing a powerful poem for supper tasting political carrot and potato

I will not silence the griots, i will silence the republics

Mandela went with his oranges; we no longer enjoy the vitamin c,

Children suffer from the scurvy of freedom, a generation of condom and mobiles,

On this earth is farting the unpleasant smell of corruption and joke

IV

I will not silence the griots, i will silence the republics

See crocodiles dancing in rivers waiting for rain

China eating berries with monkeys in Serengeti,

Yeoville lulled to sleep by nigger hip-hop and Jamaica reggae

Africa drinking red wine in the sun of Washington, America walking barefoot in diamond villages

V

Slums burning in sex and cigars, smoke of gossip choking nations sneezing burden, nations

coughing a heavy smoke of burning coal of corruption

Savana babies biting bullets in slums of freedom miscarriages and revolutionary abortions

While Mothers recite hymns of death

Sister, freedom is a gift!

I will not silence the griots; I want to silence the republics

I want to silence the gun; i will not silence the sun

This poem is dedicated to the International Peace Day Poetry Campaign in solidarity with Ariadne Sawyer World Poetry Peaceathon. As founder of the Zimbabwe We Want Poetry Campaign and the Resident Coordinator for 100 Thousand Poets for Change – Zimbabwe, this poem is in solidarity with the efforts of Ariadne Sawyer.

The poem suggests my feelings towards our lack of peace, justice and tolerance in my country, Zimbabwe, Southern Africa, Africa and the entire world. In Zimbabwe today we experience political perpetuated violence, killings and disappearances with the example of the disappearance of one ITAI DZAMARA, the victimization of artists and other voices including myself, the torture and random displacements of opposition politicians. As we approach the Zimbabwean 2018 elections, we call upon everybody who matters in the world from vendors, writers, singers, activists, humanitarians, religious and political leaders to take a closer look at the elections so that we can attain the required leadership in peace and harmony.

Today Southern Africa, including South Africa, has become a field of killings, fights and xenophobic violence, while East and West Africa are not spared, we experience there a lot of tribal conflicts that have grown into life threatening civil wars. In America and Europe racial violence is rampant while terrorist death numbers are at an alarming level. The World is in disorder – I suppose political, economic greed, racial and tribal intolerance, religious hatred and super power supremacy are all major players in stifling a peaceful globe. Great thanks to the World Poetry Peaceathon for the Campaign.

Mbizo Chirasha

Mbizo Chirasha is an exiled Zimbabwean Poet, Writer and Citizens Justice Activist. He is the Founder of the Zimbabwe We Want Poetry Campaign whose Brave Voices Poetry Journal is regularly published by Tuck Magazine, while poems and the campaign are promoted at the Facebook Group, 100 Thousand poets for peace – Zimbabwe.

Mbizo’s Poetry can be found at http://www.mbizotheblackpoet.blogspot.ca/ and blog at http://personalitiesofinspiration.wordpress.com/ also.