Africa Weeps

She wails, bitter and sore
Souls lost forevermore
Souls missing from her western shore

Bell tolls, muezzin calls, shaman sways
For you, sister
For you, brother
She prays

She does not offer her children
To till the soil of a land stolen

To be sacrificed for a civilizing mission

Cotton, diamond, sugar cane
For these coffers
For this profit
This shame

She does not offer her children
To live a life of exclusion
To die without recognition

Hibiscus flower, indigo weave
Wilt and fray
Untouched today
They can’t breathe

She longs to hold her children
Separated by time and ocean
United by heart and skin

Henna tree, baobab root
Valleys dip, mountains soar
Mighty rivers roar
Hands up, don’t shoot!

In a far, foreign land where their red blood runs
Dying in a far, foreign land that claims freedom
Africa weeps for her lost daughters and sons