I’m the black child that is now Rising
The young plant that was harshly uprooted
Very tender from its abode – the equatorial forest
I’m the young calf snatched from the savanna herd
The cockerel taken at its prime from the woodland roost
The black eagle short down from the air of the Kalahari forest
I’m the one made to sing in joy my soreness
Forced to walk even when my little foot failed me
Together I journeyed packed with others like cargoes
Black panthers, cockerels, cheetahs, eaglets, falconets
Together we were all forcefully uprooted from our habitats
From our different African forests, low lands and river-lands
Some from the equatorial and others from the Kalahari forest
Packed without decorum under the belly of the sea
Thirsty or hungry we traveled, yes we traveled
And sometimes made to fight our brothers
Or even rape our own sisters, the amazons
All to the glory of our heartless white raptors
Who in us saw nothing but simple commodities
We were for them all that can be quantified
Strong and valorous ones seen as golds
Young and prime ladies to them were silvers
There were also among us coppers
Yes, some were even like precious cobalts
The mineral that today power your technologies
The warriors who in battles have proven their valors
Those of them unfortunate enough to be capture like us
And who in chain with us traveled like cows were for them cobalts
Under the belly of the sea we lost our bearings
For though we already knew the vast space
It wasn’t unfortunately the type the sea to us offered
It wasn’t the ones we observed from the top of baobab
The infinitive space we admired from the top of our iroko
Where like eagles we watched the village come alive
With our virgin eyes we saw both kids and animal played
As we perched on trees that the forest of Africa to us offered
Those were stolen to be replaced by the belly of the ocean.
Alisonomi 2019©
