Joseph Cimanuka Poems

The start will always come, mediocrely;
Voices in your back will whisper dismay,
Trying to make you feel black, to bring you down.
Every voice will rise, a word to say,
...

I am Joseph Cimanuka,
A son of hope and humble light,
Born where hills embrace the morning,
And rivers sing both day and night.
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Half-dead people, hearts turned cold,
Conceived in shadows, in theft enrolled;
Born in crime, in darkness fed,
On stolen wealth their spirits bred.
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O, Death! I curse you,
For you are impolite,
You don't knock before you get in.
Death, where is your pity?
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God stoops down.

His hand, a shovel biting into riverbank clay,
Lifts a great mass of earth.
...

White skin—but an illusion.

Black skin—but a confusion.
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Are we children of the same world?

If you claim we are,
Where is our brotherhood—
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Congo, my only one,
My only heritage from my forefathers;
From your womb, I am fed and nourished,
On your land, I dwell and breathe,
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Peau blanche — mais une illusion.

Peau noire — mais une confusion.
...

Ngozi nyeupe—lakini ni udanganyifu.

Ngozi nyeusi—lakini ni mkanganyiko.
...