To My Own Family Poem by Edward Kofi Louis

Africa needs you and England needs you,
America needs you and India needs you,
And the evening star is like the Island of Blest;
But my people are on the other side of the river.
It is gone too soon and like a housewife's spindle,
But to see the people at work makes me feel better;
And like once upon a child in the woods.
To look for your troubles on your face at times,
And toiling more than seventy years of age;
From day to day with words to my own family,
And in distress with the poor people at hand.
The old man and the old woman were glad of me,
And looking back to the past at times;
FOr my birthplace beyond the seas is like,
My mind and your minds put together on this ship.
I am too busy to think of love but,
My family needs my help at all cost!
And Africa is my native land,
With life's common way towards success:
But the aheap of stones ahead to me are like,
An industrious way of life to capture my views!