Call Him Nelson Mandela Or Just Madiba Poem by ENOCH JOHN

On such a day when death comes will a cherub hide his glory?
Will the 'griot' tell the unabridged story in this day?
The dusty streets of Qunu may have felt the wind's elation,
For its passage might have told the story of a young boy,
Who at age five herded his animals and whose footsteps,
Might have been heard as he traversed the veld a century ago,

But on becoming a man poems were written of him, films made.
Like a lion who had roamed the veld he fought the evil apartheid monster,
And when imprisoned transformed Robben Island into a metaphor for resilience,

So that after his release he stood taller than the Pyramids of Egypt,
Becoming Africa's modern day Ambassador Plenipotentiary.
Kingdoms, even civilizations have been remembered by the exploits of one man:
Rome gave us Caesar, the Greeks produced Alexander the Great,
And now out of Africa has come Mandela or Madiba!