! : To Whom It May Consern: ! Poem by Nkululeko Mdudu

To whom it may concern:

This is a message
from an African Boy.
Least among the giants
and warriors of old.
A lost sheep in the
red sands of the Karoo desert.
Probably even a:
Khoi-San-African
reed shaken by the
winds and tides,
of our still
largely dark continent.

I Know who I am.

I Yam what I Am.

I Write what I like.

I see you now, my other.
Son of my mother: Earth.
I see my Sister and Brother.

I see their commerce as day,
After suffering lonely night
Now reborn as Brand: New-Dawn

I am the greater
Both in spirit and patience
In truth I have prevailed

Now forward to finance
The Equatorial pygmies rich
in Spirit and Space.

I am not alone then
in my quest.
which I have yet
to articulate.

And the hour
is now at hand.
That truth and freedom
be made as one.

I am one
with my brothers and sisters,
whose spirit and mine are one;
whose quest is everlasting:
The complete salvation
and autonomy of all.