Spears Down Poem by Kojo Owusu

Spears down natives
Spears down folks
Spears down neighbors
Spears down clansmen
Spears down kinsmen
Spears down tribesmen
Spears down friends
Spears down mothers and fathers
Spears down brothers and sisters

Why do you rise against me?
Why do you besiege my hearth?
With clubs, stones, cudgels
Riffles, bows, and arrows
Why so bloodthirsty to ravage
Me and ebb my soul away
Why do you roar and rage at me
Why do you curse and slander me?

Your fierce anger has engulfed me
Turning my hut into a furnace;
You invoke the gods to vanquish me
And pour libations to mother earth to disown me.
The rivers and the mountains and
The green forests are ready to swallow me;
Now you shout menacingly for my head
You are itching to snatch my heart
You desire to slaughter me on your altar
Offer me as a worthless sacrifice
To the vindictive god of anger.

Spears down natives
Spears down folks
Spears down neighbors
Spears down clansmen
Spears down kinsmen
Spears down tribesmen
Spears down friends
Spears down mothers and fathers
Spears down brothers and sisters

Why do you look down upon me,
Why do you sneer at me,
I am not an enemy;
I am not insane;
I am not an outcast;
I am not infected with an abominable disease;
I am not hopeless and powerless;
I am not portentous!

Now you hunt for my soul
Your hearts filled with passionate intensity,
I look into your fierce eyes and
I see hatred, jealousy, anger, treachery bitterness
You want to crumble the muddy wall
And tear me into pieces;
But the heart soften by adversities is filled with love.

Spears down natives
Spears down folks
Spears down neighbors
Spears down clansmen
Spears down kinsmen
Spears down tribesmen
Spears down friends
Spears down mothers and fathers
Spears down brothers and sisters

But you cannot muffle and silence the truth,
You cannot lock it in the lowermost echelons of hell
You cannot lock it in the eternal dark corridors of night;
The truth would finally emerge from the empire of falsehood
And I am that hot vessel
I was possessed by the invincible force of truth.

So your spears would pierce my heart
Your stones would smash my head
Your riffles would tear me in to pieces
Your clubs and cudgels would reduce me into a mangled pulp
But I know my words would unsettle your fragile minds
And would be among you forever whether you accept it or not
So it is better you put the.

Spears down natives
Spears down folks
Spears down neighbors
Spears down clansmen
Spears down kinsmen
Spears down tribesmen
Spears down friends
Spears down mothers and fathers
Spears down brothers and sisters