Proud warriors in ancestral savannahs...is this your back that is bent. ~David Diop Sweat shed on ancestral savannahs Blood from our grandfathers' labours The bent backs of our fathers The pains of the proud warriors And the songs of our grandmothers Have all gone to ciphers We are history’s refrain, a tragic chorus of cycles This is not a disease, yet Our backs are bent like those before us This time from the toils we choose Our ancestral warriors in awe Watch us writhe in new pains Only this time not on the plains But in the cold gloomy northern winters Where we forget the songs of our grandmothers Who will save us now that we have gone too far Beyond the reach of our mother's voice and The long warm fingers of the sun.
The Old Elephant cries He stomps around in pain His screams raised whirlwinds The ruckus was heard across the land As he trampled on the innocent shrubs of the Savanna The Old Elephant is weak Yet he's an elephant, not a sheep He bellows once again, this time louder His children have gone far, scattered wide And away, b eyond the setting sun Yet they heard the Old Elephant rumble In fear, the little ones tremble The grasses shudder, the trees grumble Again, the Old Elephant growls His children groan—they pray he rumbles forever
Every morning, just before the sun breaks the dawn into day with her golden fingers She smiles, she smiles, but no one knows why It's all beautiful, the sun, her smiles, the morning brightness And the glitter of flowers that captivates our wits all afternoon And then, in the evening, the sun sets and In the fading glory of her once golden fingers She takes with her into the high heavens Another day of our existence and A little tiny part of us that can never be reclaimed Returning us to the universe in bits and Drawing us all closer to our sure end. The sun's job done, she returns in the morning To once again smile that smile.
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