Mandela: My Distant Friend Poem by Idowu AdegbileroIwari

Dear friend,
Goodness has tied us together
Nature has made it so
Common destiny we share
Fortune has made us friends
Friend,
Your age my age
Yet I'm a million hours younger
Your season of birth, the dates,
Same as mine, the work of God
Lo, similar path to life we trod
Friend,
Your life I adorn, your time is good
The trials though, in them your glory lay
Your values I love, your struggle I share
Your ideals I cherish, bliss to earth you are.
Friend,
Your name swells my head;
Sending waves across my frame:
The works you wroth,
The fights you fought,
Like awe, erecting the hairs on my body
Friend,
You will go to grave not as a fighter
Not for weakness though,
But in victory, you've seen your struggle succeed
Your dark past of brutality gone,
Friend,
But the brighter now and morrow of freedom
Lightened by a free and equal nation
Where creed and colour banished to death
Humans, now, all are, black, and white, the coloured
All you've glimpsed by the grace of God
My dearest friend,
Distance apart us may keep
Age may range us further apart
My dream is you to see
Whether it be or not, be sure you've touched me.
Time says, you are the hero of our world, my friend dearest.