Remove the Carpet
[AKA Old Ways Be Gone**]
“Resign” they cry
Just one alone?
Stand up in solidarity
All who share the shame.
Purge
Reconcile
Refresh
Renew
To all be fair from
Decades past to times ahead
The lens has changed
But the crime no less
Purge
Reconcile
Refresh
Renew
[** For all of us]
© Stephanie Moyes Kingdom Arts 12.11.24
Africa
The sun beat down
The work was endless
But food grew well
Unequal sharing
The land cries out with beauty
Babies on backs
Will they stay
And grow old together?
Garments abound with colour
Reflecting sky, flowers, and birds.
Let our pallets
Mix every colour.
© Helen McNicholl Kingdom Arts December 2024
Freedom?
Oh! my father, where are you?
Children of the earth hear the beat of the drum
Rivers of Africa turn red stained by blood of the innocent
Deep calls to deep
From the very roots and dry earth was I born.
And the red earth cries out to be released.
This country is woven into my bones.
My heritage.
Freedom is never free. It comes with a price.
Oh! my brothers and sisters of many lands
Africa welcomed you, fed you on goats’ milk and corn
And now you are being spewed out
By the very mouth of he who instils fear, rules by fear,
Will die through fear.
See beyond and dream on my people
May the soil from which we were formed remember!
Stand strong
A bruised reed will not remain broken
Freedom is not free, it has to come with a price
They do not take it, I give it
Stand free.
© Shefali Kingdom Arts December 2024