Books of Africa Poems
The poems below are part of two collected works by Dr Wayne Visser: African Dream: Inspiring Words and Images from the Luminous Continent, and I Am An African: Favourite Africa Poems.
African Dream: Inspiring Words & Images from the Luminous Continent
This beautiful book of African inspiration combines the poetic words of renowned South African author Wayne Visser and the images of exhibited British photographer Bob Webzell in a celebration of the people, landscapes and wildlife of the luminous continent. This collection includes the well-known poem, “I Am An African”, along with other favourites: “African Dream”, “Prayer for Africa”, and “I Know a Place in Africa”. Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.
I Am An African: Favourite Africa Poems
This creative collection, now in its 5th edition, brings together Africa poems by Wayne Visser, including the ever popular “I Am An African”, as well as old favourites like “Women of Africa”, “I Know A Place in Africa”, “Prayer for Africa” and “African Dream”. The anthology celebrates the luminous continent and its rainbow people. The updated 5th Edition includes new poems like “Africa Untamed” and “Land of the Sun”. Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.
Poems
African Flame – You are the first spark that kindles the fire …
I Am An African – Not because I was born there, but because my heart beats with Africa’s …
Africa – Gondwana, born of Pangaea, when separation first started, like a unicell dividing …
Wild Africa – Africa wakes up, hungry; she prowls in packs and preys …
If These Stones Could Whisper (Robben Island) – … what secrets would they tell? …
Lost City of Gold (Mapungubwe) – … Rise once more, up from the south Limpopo shore …
Women of Africa – In the land of bow and spear, of chieftain and warrior …
Sahara – A silky dust devours the miles ahead between the barely living and the dead …
Cave of the Gods (Sterkfontein) – What is this place? This home of the stromatolite …
Little Foot – Your footprints in the rock supplied a vital clue …
Sangoma in Our Closet – There’s a sangoma in our closet at the office beneath the stair …
A Dragon’s Tale (South Africa) – Breathing smoke, the dragon wakes, yawning fire, and sighing quakes …
Shine, Africa, Shine! – Africa – the dark continent: so named by explorers …
Ode to the Elephant – Your sacred image looms large, painted on the rough canvass of Africa …
Africa Calls to Me – Africa calls to me with the beat of her drums …
First People (Tribute to the San Bushmen) – First people of this ancient land, last exiles in the desert sand …
African Dream – As white-hot skies give way to bloodshot red …
African Odyssey – Beneath the boundless African sky, unblemished blue overhead …
Baobab (Africa’s Tree of Life) – At the heart of the African plain stands a tree both old and sage …
Where the World Once Began (Egypt) – Soaring like a god on wings Isis-blessed, in search of beginnings …
African Time – I’m living my days in African time …
I Know a Place in Africa – … where I can feel the sun on my back …
Africa’s Pride (Ghana) – Basking in the welcome, walking in the rain …
I Weep for Africa – I weep for Africa – and my tears water the ground …
Place of the Skull (Okavango, Botswana) – In this great place where the elephant roam …
Prayer for Africa – Dear God, for the love of Africa, hear my prayer …
African Pace – Far from the cities and far from the streets …
Canyon of Mirrors (Fish River Canyon, Namibia) – We descend through aeons, layer by layer …
Swahili Spice (Tanzania) – Jambo! Greetings from Dar Es Salaam …
Music of Africa – Music is the heartbeat of Africa, and as we drum, so we are drummed …
African Vine – The roots of Africa are deep, her branches spread wide and low …
Mandela and De Klerk (South Africa) – Divergent paths by twists of fate …
God Bless Africa – God bless Africa, for she is the seed of humanity …
African Idea – Africa wakes – It boils and bubbles, it stews and steams …
Colours in the Dust (Morocco) – I leave behind the dusty brown …
Genesis – Out of the void of anticipation, out of the time before time began …
Lagos Lives! (Nigeria) – Lagos lives, seeding and sprawling, steaming and smoking …
We Africans – We, the spark of creation, we, first nation of nations …
From Whence We Come (South Africa) – Hear the names from whence we come …
Africa Proud – I stand upright and tall – No more bowed back, no more bent knees …
Free Us to be Free – Because so much progress has been blind to our beauty …
Africa’s Big Five – A regal roar to break the day …
Ancestral Streams (South Africa) – A drop in the north, a trickle heading south …
Island of Africa – Memories of Gondwana fade, the ancient world torn apart …
Child of Africa – I am a child of Africa – young and wild and free …
African Pilgrimage – I have walked the long trail of history and arrived at this day: triumphant! …
Gathering the Past (Tribute to the Khoikhoi) – Recall the ghosts of GuriQua …
Africa Untamed – Africa is wild: a land untamed, a people unshamed …
Land of the Sun (South Africa) – I’ll never give up on this land of the sun …
Explore Other Collections
- Change the World: Poems for Positive Action
- Icarus: Favourite Love Poems
- Life in Transit: Favourite Travel & Tribute Poems
- Seize the Day: Favourite Inspirational Poems
- String, Donuts, Bubbles and Me: Favourite Philosophical Poems
- Wishing Leaves: Favourite Nature Poems
