I Am An African

    Africa Untamed

    2015

    Africa is wild:
    A land untamed
    A people unshamed
    A life unrestrained
    Yet there are those who would tame Africa
    Who would break her unbridled spirit
    Who would cage her soaring mind
    Who would chain her flexing body

    Rest assured:
    They will fail
    Like so many before them
    And so many yet to come
    For Africa is a savage hunter
    Forever hungry for the next kill
    Always preying on her weakest
    Stained red in tooth and claw

    Africa is free:
    A land unyoked
    A people uncloaked
    A life unrevoked
    Yet there are those who would prune Africa
    Who would neaten her untidy people
    Who would lop off her thorny tribes
    Who would fortify her porous borders

    Be assured:
    They will fail
    Like countless before them
    And countless yet to come
    For Africa is a sprawling jungle
    Entangled with human tendrils
    Locked in a deadly struggle for life
    All competing for a place in the sun

    Africa is changing:
    A land evolving
    A people resolving
    A life revolving
    Yet there are those who would calm Africa
    Who would tranquillise her young agitators
    Who would defuse her creative tensions
    Who would dampen down her wild passions

    Remain assured:
    They will fail
    Like generations before them
    And generations yet to come
    For Africa is a raging tempest
    Howling with dreams and desires
    Thundering with anger and pain
    Flashing with imagination and inspiration

    Africa may be many things –
    Wild and free and changing –
    But there is one thing Africa is not:
    Africa is not for taming

    — Wayne Visser