Poets' Corner
Africa
Oh, Africa, thou mighty giant,Whose natural wealth and intellect pliant,
Whose myriad hands for work suppliant,
Whose untapped strength and will defiant
Spans half the world, south of Equator,
And offer hopes of great things later,
Where is the spirit that will free thee?
Where is the leader who will lead thee?
Come back, ye gods of yesterday
And lead your sons...To Thee we pray;
Get back ye cranks with feet of clay
And let our Millennium get on its way!
John E.S. de Graft-Hayford
War
Let those with wooden hearts.Those that possess the devil in disguise.
They that plan for vain power;
Give me time with them over.
Let them that are honest and fair.
Those that are lame with fame;
They who 'hold' us today,
Listen and judge.
Wax exhibits; that obscurity in us,
That contradiction; that destructs.
Changes histories and destinies.
It's obscure, condemn it.
When men not beasts,
Combat themselves for vainglories
That rot and perish.
The devil's playing well his part;
Where's then ours?
As nations struck in awe and despair,
Locked in war and disrepair.
And the lustre of netted ambitions dare;
Slaughtered millions lay deposed.
War degenerates mankind to serfdom;
Civilizations to oblivion.
Then come reconstructions,
Proofs of our limitations.
written 6/6/64
Akeh-Ugah Ufumaka
Bronx, New York
