A POEM FOR AF’RAKA by Jaja Otokini Boma

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I just can’t stop laughing at my continent, cause if I do, I’ll run out of tears crying for HER,

She was the most beautiful and promising woman, or at least so I heard,

When she could speak courageously among her pairs,

Even her elders listened to what she had to say,

She is the only woman with a melanin skin,

But that made her an envy and prey to the other women,

They came in as friends and her good manners were corrupted by their bad company,

Her kids forgot the essence of their existence and all it means to be a pure,

Every wrong became right,

sense of reasoning lost,

Common sense replaced with greed and foolishness,

Her children makes her unworthy, dirty and evil,

Her streets starched with red,

The stains so thick that the rains can’t wash away.

Yet do her children still smile even with so much grief and sadness in her heart,

The constant oppression from her elders zips the mouth of truth, holds the hands of justice and blinds the eyes of peace.

By Jaja Otokini Boma