The Blood of Martyrs

The Blood of Martyrs

 “He stood aloof the ***** youth
What of his future?”
Peter Abrahams

When the guns thunder
In Cameroon or Côte-d’Ivoire
In Mali or Burkina Faso
Limitless martyrs
Disappear!

Beads of blood still pearling
Running from the martyrs’ hot bodies
I vainly ask to know: 
Why are the ill-stricken dictators so greedy
And their peoples so eloquently silent?
Gabon- Togo-Cameroon- Tunisia- Egypt-
Zimbabwe-Burkina Faso

What is going on?
What of our time? What of man?
Nothing but words.
Words of those who see with
Somebody’s eye 
Or
Those who have gained
Nothing of their heritage
If not Samory’s puzzle.

Meanwhile
The spring keeps growing
Swallowing creeds to bear greeds
In spite of Ebola and the wars
In spite of Aids killing thousands of people 
In spite of the minority who with the help 
Of the majority eat from the fruit 
Of the majority’s vote
In spite of growing desert….

N’Gaoundéré, 16th February 2010

Copyright © | Year Posted 2014



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