The Beginning
By Joji Varghese Kuncheria
Four decades ago my sojourn started,
In my mid - twenties, as to be precise,
A journey of a lifetime so joyous,
By a lad daring, bold and determined,
To perceive, explore and conquer the world,
From my land of coconuts and spices,
To the horn of Africa full of bliss,
Circumspectly moving spellbound and stunned.
So it all began in warm Nazareth,
In a province of Abyssinia,
Arriving on Christmas, the twenty fifth,
An hour by bus from Addis Ababa,
On a beautiful day of the Sabbath,
Journeying through the fields of Injera.
************
By Izunna Okafor
Beyond the shrubs of Sahara
Lifted a munt of brainy bond
Over the Mississippi of Ethiopia
Lofted a penner with his hunky thoughts
Across the bridge of a foreign land
Hovered a book of beautiful pages
Tightly enclaved yet as an Ireland
In a skull rounded in the clime of golden edges
Off the coast of Addis Ababa
Tears rang bell aloud
Beholding a star being staggered
In a nimbus of a faraway land
A heroic pen was raptly melted
As the book of many pages shattered across the ocean
A nation's pride has become ashes
Making a wave in the hist of the deadly world
Oh! he was roasted faraway
Faraway his father land
Amidst tears in the eyes his nation
A great gem was ruefully tossed
The ashes of his fecund head
The cranes of his creative fingers
The cremains of his eagle eyes
Now pose lifeless in a foreign land
He's gone
A hero is gone
Roasted in a faraway land
Oh! He's gone forever.
© Izunna Okafor, 2019.
Addis Ababa pulse,
Blue Nile passion flow
into the heart of a Mtoto midnight
Tropical forest desires,
soft Harari waves moving
at the tidal touch crescent height
Jijiga sepia legs
dancing Danakil closer to ebb dreams
Anticipated pleasure from the static electricity
Nubian swaying hips,
snowflake moans Mekelle melted
Zebra fire kiss ... burnished lips of lava intensity
Ethiopian eyes
ever ebony sparkling
Candice soul of a regal queen
Ethiopian eyes
ivory moonlight glistening
Love shared beneath a starlit covering
Ethiopian shut eyes,
solar eclipse illuminating
Cosmic soul of a celestial being
Ethiopian open eyes,
angelic attraction overwhelming
Love vowed with a silhouette veil lifting
Ethiopian eyes
reveal a forever dawn
of a love affair never ending
In Kampala African queen lives
In Johannesburg African queen sleeps
In Nairobi African queen smiles
In Lagos African queen sings
In Kinshasa African queen dances
In Addis Ababa African queen debates
In Juba and Mogadishu Africa queen weeps
To Kigali and Accra African queen flies
In Churches African queen prays
In supermarkets African queen works
In airships African queen flies
In foreign lands African queen creates
Beautiful African queen wake up
The world you adore selectively cares
Do not be notorious in beauty and elegance
But lacking in self-esteem to live own life
African queen, the world harvests you dearly
Reject the trash offered and grab the grains
Oh! Mother Africa!
From the East to the West, from the North to the South of
Africa is strife, killings, starvation and poverty
Brothers killing brothers
And innocent bloods are being shed every day
Arise! Mother Africa and save your child.
Give hope to the hopeless
And strength to the weak
Liberty to the oppressed
Peace to the restless and succor to the needy
From Free town in Sierra Leone
to Darfur region in the Republic of Congo.
From the Niger Delta region in Nigeria to Monrovia in Liberia
From Addis Ababa in Ethiopia to Sudan
From Luanda in Angola to Kinshasa in Zaire
From Cape Town South Africa to Nairobi Kenya
Let there be peace, love, unity and prosperity in the Land
Dear Mother Africa!
Show us the way and save Africa your beloved child in whom you are
Well pleased.
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