Tag: poems

I have walked the long trail of history
And arrived at this day: triumphant!
I have worn the dead yoke of oppression
And arrived at this day: free at last!

I hear the rhythm of drums –
Will you join me in my celebration of life?
I see the colours of change –
Will you join me in my vision of hope?

I have sung the ancient song of the stars
And arrived at this time: awestruck!
I have heard the wild call of creation
And arrived at this time: expectant!

I taste the salt-sweet of justice –
Will you join me in my banquet of faith?
I feel the fire of belonging –
Will you join me in my village of love?

I have tracked the fresh footprints of nature
And arrived at this place: one life!
We are joined by the sacred web of our ancestors
And arrive at this place: one tribe!

Wayne Visser © 2017

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.

I am a child of Africa –
Young and wild and free
I play on streets of sunny hope
And feed on dusty dreams
I am a child of Africa –
Young and bold and bright
I think a million sparkling thoughts
And wish on shooting stars

I do not want your pity
For I am not a helpless pup
I do not want your charity
For I will thrive at first chance
I do not want your mistrust
For being young is not a crime
I do not want your prejudice
For that is your prison not mine

You will know me
Not by the colour of my skin
But by the spectrum of my ideas
For I am Africa’s child
You will know me
Not by the name of my tribe
But by the poetry of my ideals
For I am Africa’s child

I may look young
But I am older than you
For I was born at the beginning of time
I may look weak
But I am stronger than you
For I was weaned on the milk of the sun
I may look simple
But I am smarter than you
For I was schooled at the knee of wise elders

You will know me
Not by the poverty of my means
But by the wealth of my ends
For I am Africa’s child
You will know me
Not by the shadows of my past
But by the brilliance of my future
For I am Africa’s child

I do not want your visions
For I have dreams of my own
I do not want your fears
For I have monsters enough
I do not want your leftovers
For I have freshly baked needs
I do not want your playthings
For I have imagination aplenty

I am a child of Africa –
Young and shy and sweet
I smile to hide my nervous pride
And laugh with crystal joy
I am a child of Africa –
Young and hip and cool
I dance my way to destiny
And rise on wings of change

Wayne Visser © 2017

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.

A Tribute to the People of South Africa

A drop in the north
A trickle heading south
A stream spreading out
A tide without end
Still the river flows

Nguni of the south
Nurturing the soil
Gathering the herd
Winning the battles
Still the river flows

Venda of the north
Mining the earth
Ruling the mountain
Taming the crocodile
Still the river flows

Tsonga of the east
Trading the goods
Guarding the port
Touching the globe
Still the river flows

Sotho-Tswana of the west
Crafting the stone
Building the cities
Cultivating the leaf
Still the river flows

Lemba of the centre
Smelting the ore
Making the tools
Honouring the Jews
Still the river flows

Ancestral streams
Coursing through our veins
Wellspring of our nation
Quenching this thirsty land
Still the river flows

Wayne Visser © 2017

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.

Free us to be free –
Because so much progress
Has been blind to our beauty
Because so much advice
Has been deaf to our song
Because we will only be free
When we take responsibility
For ourselves

Free us to be free –
Because so many leaders
Have been corrupted by power
Because so many followers
Have been weakened by need
Because we will only be free
When we write the history
Of our people

Free us to be free –
Because we are out of sync
With the beat of the world
Because we are out of step
With the march of civilization
Because we will only be free
When we dance the melody
Of our land

Free us to be free –
Because too many problems
Began as gifts from others
Because too many solutions
Have not been home grown
Because we will only be free
When we follow the decree
Of our hearts

So if you really care
As much as you say
Pray, let us go
To find our own way
Free us to be free –
Free to fly the nest of ideology
Free to fight for the dreams
Of our children

Wayne Visser © 2017

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.

I stand upright and tall –
No more bowed back
No more bent knees
I look straight ahead –
No more downcast eyes
No more cowering glances
For I am Africa Proud

See me:
My name is Africa
And I am rising to greet you
I am leading the way
And I am Proud

Extend me your hand –
In friendship, not pity
In peace, not trickery
Send me your prayers –
In communion, not guilt
In hope, not resignation
For I am Africa Proud

Hear me:
My name is Africa
And I am calling to welcome you
I am waiting to embrace you
And I am Proud

I dance wild and free –
No more slave chains
No more puppet strings
I sing loud and strong –
No more lamentation
No more discord
For I am Africa Proud

Feel me:
My name is Africa
And I am drumming to wake you
I am singing to inspire you
And I am Proud

Bring me your gifts –
Of fair trade, not charity
Of respect, not advice
Show me your spirit –
Of community, not greed
Of faith, not fear
For I am Africa Proud

Join me:
My name is Africa
And I am seeding the future
I am shining with beauty
And I am Proud

Wayne Visser © 2017

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.

A Tribute to the People of South Africa

Hear the names
From whence we come
Honour the tribes
That make us one

We hear your name –
Venda, Lobedu, Pedi
Ndebele, Kgatla, Ngwato
Tlokwa, Kwena, Hurutshe –
We speak your fame

We hear your name –
Ngwaketse, Thembu, Ndlambe
Ncqika, Gcaleka, Bomvana
Mpondo, Mpondomise, Zizi –
We speak your fame

We hear your name –
Behle, Qwabe, Mthetwa
Ndwandwe, Hlubi, Phuthing
Pulana, Thembe, Swazi –
We speak your fame

We hear your name –
Portugal, Holland, Britain
Malaysia, France, Germany
India, Italy, Middle-East –
We speak your fame

Hear the names
Of our mother tongue
Speak of the words
That make us one

We hear you speak –
Venda, North Sotho, Swazi
South Sotho, Tsonga, Tswana
Ndebele, Xhosa, Zulu –
Your words we keep

We hear you speak –
Afrikaans, Arabic, English
German, Greek, Hebrew,
Hindi, Italian, Portuguese –
Your words we keep

These are the streams
From whence we come
These are the dreams
That make us one

Wayne Visser © 2017

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.

We Africans
We, the spark of creation
We, first nation of nations
Remember us
For you flow from our ancestral streams
And your hopes are what mirror our dreams

We Africans
We, the crossers of high seas
We, the keepers of memories
Remember us
For you pulse with the blood of our veins
And you cry with the fear of our pains

We’re born, we rise
We open our eyes
We crawl, we walk
We’re learning to talk

We Africans
We, the fathers of hungry hands
We, the mothers of thirsty lands
Join with us
For your toil is sweat on our furrowed brow
And your guilt is shame for our here and now

We Africans
We, the sons of rusty chains
We, the daughters of dried-up rains
Join with us
For your suffering leaves tears in our eyes
And your great escape is our freedom’s rise

We plant, we reap
We strive, we weep
We serve, we slave
We hope, we brave

We Africans
We, the farmers of the plains
We, the hunters of the rains
Stand with us
For your food is our planted gorge
And your iron is our fiery forge

We Africans
We, the nomads of the sand
We, the stewards of the land
Stand with us
For your drink is our handpicked beans
And your wealth is our tunnelled seams

We dig, we drill
We bend our will
We melt, we mould
We bleed for gold

We Africans
We, the soldiers of the thorny cross
We, the seekers of the pantheons lost
Rise with us
For your chapels enact our daily sacraments
And your deities fill our starry firmaments

We Africans
We, the pilgrims of the crescent moon
We, the students of our earthly swoon
Rise with us
For your mosques echo our calls to prayer
And your mission is our promise to care

We kneel, we pray
We sing, we slay
We lift our pain
We praise His name

We Africans
We, the singers of life’s sorrow
We, the lovers of tomorrow
Reunite us
For your maps are our patterned mosaic
And your home is our ancient namesake

We Africans
We, the dancers of our freedoms
We, the voices of new seasons
Reunite us
For your culture is our rainbow display
And your genes are our twined DNA

We drum, we beat
We stamp our feet
We weave, we thread
We love, we wed

We Africans
We, the refugees of futile fighting
We, the tribes of lands uniting
Welcome us
For as you gain so we have lost
And what we give is without cost

We Africans
We, the migrants of opportunity
We, the leaders of the fair and free
Welcome us
For as we join as fragile friends
So we prosper in the end

We move, we tread
We search, we spread
We fit, we fight
We claim our right

We Africans
We, the archers of the starry sky
We, the askers of the question why
Celebrate with us
For the dawn is strung with morning dew
And our time has come to start anew

We Africans
We, the scatterlings of the rising sun
We, all proud Africans, every one
Celebrate with us
For our future fate is far from done
And we are all Africans, every one

Wayne Visser © 2017

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.

A Tribute to Nigeria

Lagos lives
Seeding and sprawling
Steaming and smoking
Grasping at the shoreline
Gasping at the skyline
Clinging to its oil-slicked ropes
And singing of its toil-stripped hopes

Praise be!
To the God who sets His people free
To the fiery preacher on TV
To the Sunday throng that still believe
Praise be!
To the beggar and the banker
To the fisher and the swanker
To the struggler and the smuggler
Praise be!

Lagos breathes
Coughing and crooning
Swaggering and swooning
Shouting at the winners
Flouting all the sinners
Unleashing hope with soaring psalms
And greasing all the outstretched palms

Praise be!
To the Son who died upon the tree
To the light that makes the blind to see
To the ear that hears each prayerful plea
Praise be!
To the leaders and the bleeders
To the hackers and the slackers
To the hopers and the jokers
Praise be!

Lagos moves
Churning and chugging
Squirming and slugging
Jamming on the highways
Cramming in the byways
Convulsing to the market mob
And pulsing to the Fela throb

Praise be!
To the Ghost who lit the flame in thee
To the Word of heavenly decree
To the Three in One and One in Three
Praise be!
To the movers and the shakers
To the moguls and the fakers
To the dealers and the healers
Praise be!

Lagos lives
And breathes
And moves
To a rhythm of its own
To an ancient mystic poem
To a purpose yet unknown
Lagos moves
And breathes
And lives

Wayne Visser © 2017

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.