Another Continent

My dream

Is sweet

Like honey,

Green

Like the leaves of a cucumber,

Bright

Like the morning sun,

Lovely

Like a garden of roses,

A dream

Of a new continent

A continent where

Parliament

Shall not be a hall

Of a swarm of locusts,

An acacia tree

For the clattering of weaverbirds,

A platform

For formless sycophants

A continent where

‘National security’

Will not be the hard skin

Guarding state house crocodiles;

A walking stick

Sustaining gods of the potter’s clay;

A continent where

Detentions and prisons

Will not be mortars

For pounding humanity,

A door

For entering to the grave,

A continent where

Precious brains

Shall not get startled

And drop their tools

To hurriedly get to the border

For home

Has become awilderness

Where the buffalo

Has been engulfed by fury,

Where wild dogs

Are roasted by rabies,

And the spitting cobra

Has its neck puffed up,

A continent where

Greed

And corruption

Shall not rain from the top

Like poison

From a helicopter

Being sprayed,

Official lies

Shall not rise in the air

And attack the nose

Like the stench of a skunk,

Tribal prejudice

Shall not be a mist

To attack eyes

Like tear gas;

A continent where

In state houses

There won’t be black mambas coiled

But humans beings seated –

People with blood

And conscience

II

Like a sunbird

On a flower,

Like a heart

Under the canopy of love,

My dream

Has perched and stilled

On the new continent

A continent where

Information technology

Will not remain up in the sky

Far from our hand

But will be a spotlight in the palm

For lighting our road,

Sparks of science

Shall be fanned

Till they be an inferno,

The seedling of technology

Will be nurtured

Till it becomes a giant tree,

A continent where

Our researches

Our discoveries

Will be grenades

Against malaria and measles

Tanks

Against rinderpest and blight;

A continent where

Farmers

Will sing songs,

Poets

Recite poems,

In unabashed praise

Not only of tea and cocoa

Not only of coffee and tobacco

But potatoes –

Bigger than hunger,

Pigeon peas

Growing without sulking,

Vegetables and fruits

Which deride their enemies in the farm –

Lovely, glittering

Jewels of bio-technology;

A continent where

Theory and practice

Brains and hands

Blend fast

With the sun and rivers

And with sweet melodies

Sing a unique song

A song of electricity

For running machines

And dreams,

For lighting houses

And hearts

III

Oh, New Continent

Twinkling star

In the darkly season,

Glinting star

Like life throbbing,

Through this mist

Of vapour of tears,

Through this smoke

Of the fire of poverty,

Through this cloud

Of the poison of disunity,

With a steadfast voice

I call upon you

Come, Oh, New Continent

Continent of tranquility

Continent of harmony

Continent of collaboration

And of hope,

Come, oh, New Continent

A continent where

Instead of the odour of suspicion

As Cameroon and Nigeria

Spray stomach gas at each other,

Instead of groaning

As Kenya and Tanzania

Gnaw at each other’s nerves,

Instead of wailings

As Ethiopia and Eritrea

Fry each other in the desert,

Roads and rails

Shall cross borders

Like blood vessels

Leaving one organ

And entering the next,

Letters and telephone calls

Shall reach neighboring villages

Without passing through London

Without going via Paris,

Currency notes

Will not become worthless paper

After crossing Lwakhakha

Or Rufiji,

A continent where,

The jewels of research

With African colours,

Factory goods

With African emblems,

Will bypass each other

Like pistons

Running a machine

IV

I cry for you, oh, New Continent

A continent where

In the mind’s eye

The black skin

Shall be source of pride,

In our ears

African languages

Shall be nightingale’s songs,

African art

Shall be the compass

In the boat of culture,

A continent where

The core business

Shall not be strategising

On how to tightenthe knot

In the dangerous noose

Of Bretton Woods

But fabricating the file

With which to cut the chains

Which bind our legs

On the life’s highway