The Sons Of The Desert Sands Poem by Aziz Baako

Freedom and I were by a phone
Booth waiting for a bus home
At 04: 00 GMT.
After hours of hanging
Out with hustlers
And thieves of the city of
Accra all night long.
We were about to join
A bus when

Freedom drew my attention
To the third phone booth
On my right. A woman
With an American
Accent was speaking on the phone.

Listen, Freedom said to me
Then I began listening.
While the American woman
Continued talking.

…For many years now
Many parents have lost
Their children to numerous wars
Fought all around the world.

My son Teddy is breaking
The ten commandments
On the Arabian Desert.
Killing and murdering
The Sons of the Sands.

And this is all based on
The decisions of Powerful
People of the world.

Their decision
Are nursing our seeds in
A harsh environment,
Breaking Gods
rule in the Gulf.

My son is murdering
The son of the Afghan woman
As I talk to you now.

The Afghan woman,
Me and many others
Are trapped in the mystics and
Miseries of these horrible wars
Fought around the world.
Who wins a war?
When our sons
Are on the desert
Sand killing or being killed.

The radio announced
This morning
The mourning
Of the young Americans
Who died bringing pain home
And honors to America.

When do you think
The men of POWER
Will send their children
To War Fronts?

The woman went quite listening
To the other side of the line.

She sighed and continued

I read yesterday that the Sudan war
Has intensified and one can’t identify
The rights from the wrong any more
I heard that Charles Taylor
Has moved out of Liberia
Into Nigeria.

In Sierra Leone also, whiles the Rebels
Are recruiting child soldiers
The army is recruiting young
Angry-hungry men.

What kind of world are we leaving in?

She paused for a minute, coughed
And began talking again.

When I get on radio today.
I will announce to the world
How fed up I am with
The politics and policies
Of Politicians around the world.

I will tell them how fed up
I am with reporting
Wars and death on radio

I know my Boss will fire me
For that, but I still want to remind
The world that Teddy is dreading
In the suns of the desert sands.
She said, hanged the phone
And moved on alone.


(The Despair of a Displaced Person series)