Africa
You are fabric with many borders
With narratives as old as time
And wealth as rich as gold
You are half a home and half an encyclopedia
You are a song echoed with possibilities

Africa
I have seen you look through the lens of foreigners to see yourself
I have seen you dig graves to prove your worth
I have seen you set yourself fire to keep others warm
I have witnessed how you dim your light to let others shine

Africa
When will you see what you are made of?
Maybe it's time to unlearn your mistakes
It's time to unlearn your prejudices
It's time to see beyond what others see you as
To tell your narrative as the healing you deprived yourself for too long

Africa
I have lived and I have loved in your people's glow
I have heard of your stories told around fires
Narratives of your grandeur and tenacity
How you phoenix like rise beyond our expectations to the skies and no one can hold you back

Africa
My love for you is a broken mirror  shattered by the hopes you never lived upto
Of the stories that became your histories
Bleeding from the coups, civil wars, genocides, racism, apartheid;so many blemishes you choked finally leave behind
When will you cleanse the stain of colonialism?

Africa
I have heard it said that trust is the most lethal of weapons
Sometimes am unsure if you are naive or stupid
Because time and again you trusted the words of the people who destroyed you
Maybe that's why you are resources rich but economically poor

Africa
Does your litter feel less like trash when a tourist photographs it
When they look at you like a souvenir too informal to return  home with?
Does it feel safe to inherit the vices of those who corrupt you?
Infiltrate your culture like a cancer leaving you ailing in morals?

Ms. Kuria
© Ms.Kuria..