Poetry

Afri Qua

Though many believe you are just a homogenous land mass of interlinked chaos
You are to me a home and blissful domicile and abode
Though they refer to you as a hog, a squatter dwelling and dead terrain
To me you are paradise
Though they starve you and watch from their towers your ale malnourishment
You feed my soul with love and humility
Though they cast you off as lifeless ground
To me you are terra firma

As they seek to cow you into capitulation
You stand firm and lionize your rise
It is they who are responsible for the rising tide of Afro-pessimism
Not your evangelic placement
Their offerings are a mere farce
As they despatch their cronies to loot from your rich souls

You spurn their overture
But to no avail
They return promising you grub
Grub that you plough on your fertile soil
Who are they fooling?
They are but chums
Sent to this forkful land by the imp himself
They cause relentless bludgeoning
And make a great deal of noise

How dare they ostracise our leaders and call them lumpents
Shun our own and call them aliens
Whilst they amassed vast profits from elicit deals with the fiend

Africa, pay no attention to the malevolence dictators of the rich world
Mould your own riches from what nature awards you
And be a great land
And their ill attempts will fail abysmally
Their myopia on haughty foot soldiers of liberation will see no tomorrow
Africa let them talk, bark and scream
Allow them to give their punitive arrogant projection of what should be
But cultivate your own laws
Africa’s solutions for Africa’s problems
And let that be your unwavering stand

By: Mihlali Gqada