salaam (for Leroy Calliste 1943-1975)
SALAAM
am i to sit
and stare at these
wretched walls
and curse.....
with my memories of you....
poet....
messenger of this season
refuted by ignorant ones
or am i to laugh...ironically
to engulf the lamentations
within...benighting it from the public
can any of these moves
truly present themselves
as aid for your resurrection?
you have left us....
as babylon the whore
laughs...exclaiming conquest
in her lewd form of exaultation
and... mother weeps
with our daughters viewing her
expressing exasperation
i cannot speak of
a young warroir feeding the land
nor of spilt blood and green vines
curling about withered sticks
yet i am to yearn again
for pristine mornings
when we can meet each other
dancing the ancestral dance
through the glade like passage of ebony
where the chanting voices of
our mothers
sisters
and daughters
make tearful eyes
as we faintly remember
the weavers of the dust
salaam..... brother
what more can i wish?
may the memory of you
inspire the awakening flame
of distruction for babylon....
may the memory of you
enrich and nourish
the sensitivity of others
to follow us
salaam my brother
PEACE !!!!
Published 1977 New Voices Journal No. 9 page 42
posted by roi kwabena @ 2:56 AM
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