Login
|
Join PoetrySoup
Home
Submit Poems
Login
Sign Up
Member Home
My Poems
My Quotes
My Profile & Settings
My Inboxes
My Outboxes
Soup Mail
Contest Results/Status
Contests
Poems
Poets
Famous Poems
Famous Poets
Dictionary
Types of Poems
Videos
Resources
Syllable Counter
Articles
Forum
Blogs
Poem of the Day
New Poems
Anthology
Grammar Check
Greeting Card Maker
Classifieds
Quotes
Short Stories
Member Area
Member Home
My Profile and Settings
My Poems
My Quotes
My Short Stories
My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder
Soup Social
Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us
Member Poems
Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Random
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread
Member Poets
Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest
Famous Poems
Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100
Famous Poets
Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War
Poetry Resources
Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter
Email Poem
Your IP Address: 18.216.147.211
Your Email Address:
Required
Email Address Not Valid.
To Email Address:
Email Address Not Valid.
Required
Subject
Required
Personal Note:
Poem Title:
Poem
Goodbye, Grand Warrior of Mveso Of Qunu, of Transkei, of Soweto Grand Warrior of Rivonia and Robben Island Goodbye, Grand Warrior of Azania, of Africa Fare thee well, beloved icon of the World Fare thee well, resilient Madiba I speak not with anger though I ought to I speak not with bitterness though I should These you banished, Grand Warrior When you embraced humanity and hope You battled anger, bitterness and vengeance You won peace, truth and freedom And you won Africa and the World Grand Warrior, you won them all You won me over, too, Madiba For while you were on the Isle Frozen in time and space Anger and vengeance we embraced Where are our people? (Silence) What have you done to our people? (Silence) Where is the justice for our people? (Silence) Can silence answer me? (Silence) What’s that you say? What? And again they responded with silence. Why, we asked, why this impunity? Why pretend to be a Nation A Nation, that is, without a State? Was that not, we asked ourselves, What you were prepared to die for? What you were frozen in time and space for? So, anger we seized, arms outstretched And stoked the fire of vengeance, yes Many were the casualties, as you know And much blood was shed and limbs broken As witness the myriad battles and battlefronts That turned South Africa into a war zone Then finally and triumphantly, Grand Warrior You and the thousands that were incarcerated For giving voice or limb to our cause Returned home, Grand Warrior, As free men and women of a Nation In need of a leader and a Vision (Please continue to Page 2)
CAPTCHA Preview
Type the characters you see in the picture
Required