Africa: The Battleground Poem by Lubinda Lubinda

Tensions rising in the North
and signs of depression
setting in on our black continent
guns blazing in an African nation
alongside the sounds
of sharpened machetes
which fill the air
as if they were
anouncing the readiness
for a full blown war!

Further confusion sets in
as foreign troops join the blood bath
looking at what has transpired
with disdain
they cautiously land
upon the African plains.
with different interests in mind,
they quickly desend upon African soil
only to enhanse
the already existing turmoil
and chaos becomes the order of the day.

Like thunderous sounds
of mass funeral processions
echoes of weeping and wailing
herald in the arrival of death
as laments for the departed
penetrate the airwaves
from corner to corner
and i can only wonder;
what ever happened to a people
that once preached &
prided themselves in ubuntu?

I take another look a country
torn apart by war
and i see signs of utter desperation
and expectation
displayed on the faces of the people
waiting for help
that would never come
to a country that has gone to the dogs
as a people with downcast faces
begin to disperse
spoils of the war are quickly
shared amongst theives
and i ask myself
if there was ever African Unity
as i witness a nation plonges into poverty
while her allies do nothing to help her

I sit and stare at the calamity
that has befallen her
and i wonder
if the ancestors voices
of peace through reason
have been silenced
by the barrel of the gun.