Poetry

Avel Chuklanov photo

By

Nwoba Chika Nwoba

Shall We Rise (Song for Africa)

Shall we rise

Africa

From the clutter of racism;

Rise above the fountain of negritude,

Prejudices of tongue and religion;

Forage a path abhorrent of armistice

And caress towers of oneness and humaneness-

A recompense of the treasured epitaphs-

Dreams of our heroes past ­­- we plundered

Through the instrumentalities of acculturation

Shall we rise

Above the culinary embrace of oddness;

Thralldom of vagueness of territorial modules

And clutch on lasting sapience,

Pluck bays of self pride; value-filled assurances

And rebuild once a continent treasured in silver

Shall we rise

Children of this soil

Above the pulpit of lethargy

And dare the grey-haired locusts

In whose filthy palms are enwrapped,

the glory of this clime.

Shall we rise in protest–

Pick our tongues from the grave of silence;

Gather our morale in the basket of congruity

And spit torrent of impudence on their striped faces-

Pans of oddities and obsolesce

Shall we rise

O, shall we rise

Above our sepulchral indolence;

Rise above the cliff of corruption

And build an enclave of global glory

Our forebears dreamt they had.

O, let’s rise above the hills of nepotism

And chase to a distance, these saracens

Whose stock in trade is value extermination!

And so let us rise,

Progenies of the black earth

And build a totem of hope for the generations yet unborn.

Nwoba Chika Nwoba

Is from Ikwo, Ebonyi State, Nigeria. He is a member of the Association of Nigerian Authors. His works especially in poetry, have appeared in several local and international journals of literature.   

A literary student; essayist. He is the author of Rising Voices, a collection of poems. He loves reading, writing and an active campaigner for true democracy in Nigeria and Africa.