Long Aluta Poems

Acquah Vicki on Sunday March 31, 2013

 THEY CALL ME NELSON
 
No man can keep the spirit contained 

He herded sheep when they 

called him by name (Rolihlahla)
 
His teacher gave him a new name...

Read More

freedom day 
(april the 27th 1994)


far too many brave compatriots died

and

flooding rivers of tears were cried

far too many families ripped apart

with

daggers cutting into their heart

the pain is felt still deep today
on this glorious sun-splashed South...

Read More

Our convergent joint
The rallying  point
Mecca to the Pastors and Sisters
Jerusalem to the “Alhajas and Alfas”
Refuge to the weak
Shield to the strong
Nowhere on campus like our building

Life made more lively
Added  life to the lifeless...

Read More

He danced on the decks of tossing ships, danced only for dimes
He danced to the lash and sound of whips, hip moving like dream
And when he reasoned, his words sublime brought heavenly climes
Dance from plantation...

Read More

As I sit and watch
Watch you denounce the obligatory violence
Announcing and pronouncing the fabricated freedom
Joyfully commemorating and celebrating your assassinated true leaders
The enemy killed not the leaders but the ideas
You buried not them but the...

Read More

Why do we have the sky up and not down?
Why does the earth has water all over it?
Why do humans die and never return home?
Why is the moon so far from the earth while
We need...

Read More

The fat director in his piggy mien
 Sitting in opulent oval office,
 Wearing costly French suit
 A delicate silk bow tie,
 While the buttons are straining to keep
 The belly from bursting out,
 In performing...

Read More

Thinking of the bay that daily gush 
From our ray on this lengthy voyage.
This at first wasn't envisage to be created,
For our calculator has failed us in haste.

Yes in haste it has failed us.
Despite the...

Read More

They have succeeded in putting those
Chains to our legs and called it change.
Is this change I see or chain in disguise? 
Blindly we have answered to their calls
When the day is still young to be...

Read More

The return of justice in Nigeria
Freedom is the mother 
Of our right and justice 
No wonder we are out there
In our various hot streets
Demanding but not pleading
We have pleaded for too long 
We have be...

Read More

Aluta continua
Was that word another message replaced
And the room spun dark as web
The tree no longer walks the night
The bush is silent on the veld
Madiba has passed the lion sleeping
Has left the fruit falling
Has left...

Read More

Solidarity is forever
Solidarity is forever
Solidarity is forever
We shall always fight for our right

What a great chorus they always sing! 
Yet in their hearts
Their belly they tend to save
Not for those they guise to help

If not,...

Read More

At the opened door of the weekday
The throat of the gate is choked 
With the clamour of the cliché 
of Aluta continua! 

The little drop of hope 
For the poor to breath on
Is now for...

Read More

Forget us not
(For the countless South Africans, black and white, who sacrificed their lives for democracy)
 
forget us not
fellow traveller in our just cause
 
‘aluta continua’ was our refrain
as we trudged in soggy marshes
malarial fevers...

Read More

The eye's seen enough 
The heart's beat a lot for the bluff
Of the joyful hope of sorrow 
That’s  promised for every morrow 
By the driver of the land's wealth—
Who's covered the land's breath
Like the...

Read More

I walked pass the glorious work of Prinsloo and Vuuren
that great and tall statue of Rolihlahla Mandela
Embodying conciliation with a smile
Embracing unity with open arms

I turned around to satisfy myself in honoring the mighty hero
Closely...

Read More

After Katherina
My faith half mast like a flag
Beat no tambourina
For shining citadel and rag
Of old traditions
That could just walk away
Form the desolations
To tell us pray.

After Katherina
I saw the Mason-Dixon line
Was no mere enigma
The living are...

Read More

Breaking rules to make new rules
Chasing godly minds to fish out moles 
New pals while old were in shit holes
With them in d quarters of my life I make some new goals 

Jumping cliffs that...

Read More

Your leathery hands
With hairs like a wolf's
And nails disfigured
Remind me of a figure
Like the dew of the morning
Is the sweat on your body
With a thick repelling perfume
Of salt water and fumes
Day in day out
Is your...

Read More

We are not crushed
Like a phoenix we rise
Matching with all resonance
Unto this cause we lay breathe
Until we swim in champaign

The odds: our strength
The truth: our source
Though, the trench our haven
In edifice you abode
But we live...

Read More