Echo Of The Drums Poem by Nkululeko Mdudu

Alright alright hold your horses!
(they came with the foreigners too) .
We all suffered, we all lost,
I'm talking about us blacks, but we cannot
erase, delete or undo the past, hence:
Those with a past have a problem.

They gave as much as they took,
and we accepted as much as we rejected.
Let us go find ourselves, and our assegais first,
before we march in rebellion.
Let us go find the purpose for which
we had those spears,
for which we spilled the blood of others,
for which we were the way we were;
and find a way to be, now.

Let us fight our moral decay
and our greed and our loss of true values,
let us seek the lessons of the land.
Let us become what we can,
let us not blame white men, for we can
write and we have flight and we can
Westerly heal, yes we can run a mile,
on wheels, dammit!

No, damn him!
But deal with him,
dance with him,
and we will strike him
with his fire spears
and metal birds at dawn!

We have his weapons now,
we have his golden cow;
let us not praise him,
let not our dogs pray on him,
but let us pull the paper-pyramid
from under him and make him hear us.

Let the drums echo though his walls,
let the Iron curtains fall,
and let them sing for us all.