THE GOLDEN BIRD OF AFRICA-MANDELA

I

I heard the voice of the dawn wind

Singing choral dirges for the coming day

Why is the breeze eulogizing our  

Dangling hopes on the edges of the sword

of the anonymous terror

who always cast shadows of grief

On our unborn days

Oh! You ancient scourge

Why have you scattered the shepherd’s sheep

on the pastures of sorrow

I see the morning air

mocking the shepherd’s motionless remains

Oh! You powers of death

when will you know satisfaction?

To stop turning our taste sour

See our tears running into ocean

See the ocean rejecting our sorrowful cry

II

You ungrateful visitor of ruefulness

We shall not run from your spear

For we have known your intent already

You hunter of hunters

You shall not continue to deepen our pains

You have wrestled the viper

On the baked sand forages

See his children clothing with sheet of grief

See them mourn openly

III

Oh! Madiba

You, who spent your nights on the waters

Sacrificing your emotions for

That baby

For that child

For that girl

For that boy

For that man

For that woman

And for those people

You call them brother

on the deep seas

You gambled your life

in the face of the oppressors weapon

all for the freedom of the black skin

IV

Woe bêtise you

You fearful vampire

You have bitten a bitter flesh

Of a man who dedicated his life

to the service of humanity

Oh! Madiba!

An epitome of humility

A symbol of black pride

A fountain of wisdom

We won’t sit unconcerned to watch

Death set our happiness ablaze all the time

You terror of days

Why did you visit our home

At this time of the year

V

Mandela , Mandela, Mandela

African eagle without feathers

You who torn apart

the cloth of black inferiority

on global stage

Yes! You saw the sun not far from reach

You who sees beyond

The eye of the deceptive imaginations of telescope

Oh! Madiba!

Son of the south soil

You have shown us the path of confidence

VI

As you make peace with the creator

We pray your selfless soul an eternal rest

Rest! Industrious son of Africa

Rest! Mentor of African leadership

Rest! Son of the soil

Madiba, rest

Nelson, rest

VII

The fluid in my pen

only inscribes songs of threnody

To the wicked sight of the icy thief

Who hunts for innocent souls all day long

Planting their remains under the measured hole in Assase Efua

You ancient thief

 why have you tied our golden bird

In a suffocating room?

Why have you waged war on us?

We will stand up and battle you

VIII

Just as sacrificial lamb

Sees no comfort with the children of sword

So shall Madiba laughed at   death

Madiba!

You called on death in your lonely room

But it ran away from your sight

Nelson!

You trampled on the powers of death several times

But it could not bite you

Mandela!

You crushed the bones of death

In your isolated Robben Island

But it could hit back at you

Death could only fight you in your old age

IX

Madiba!

You heard the voices of the oppressed

From the echoes of the walling pigeons

Who were your family on the death Island

You fulfilled your dream

of equating apartheid

We shall forever remember you in our hearts

By: Zadok Kwame Gyesi (Ghana’s Achebe)