Tata Madiba I Cry For You... Poem by Kenneth Maswabi

A great leader of Africa is gone,
departing on a summer evening of December 5,2013.
having lived a life full of opposites,
love flanked by hatred, peace embraced by violence
stone pavements wrapped in Arabic carpets,
prison bars shadowed by marble walls,
soft voices and harsh tones...

A great leader of Africa has left,
departing at a great age of 95
having lived a life full of journeys,
“the long walk to freedom”, he said.
footpaths and bridges, rivers flowing with hope,
a silent steam boat to nowhere
silently slicing the cold waters of the Cape,
emerging in an isolated landmark,
alone in the belly of the ocean...
the curse that became the light – Robben island

A great leader of Africa is gone,
departing at the end of a life full of fear and misery
having lived in the shadows of prison walls,
the bloody streets of Soweto,
the murderous riots of the Apartheid era,
the sweet voices of those he loved
engulfed by screams in the midnight,
African children calling him to lead
To lead from the front as the darkness was creeping with monsters, hot bullets from machine guns, souls departing in haste,
young African lives consumed by apartheid beasts.
The fear and misery in their hearts oozing into the African soil - the path that Tata Madiba was on...

A great leader of Africa is no more,
departing at the end of a life full of hope
having lived with great men and women of Africa,
people full of passion, empowered by the believe in the African spirit.
The same Spirit that boiled in his blood, showing him the way...
“Even though I walk in the valleys of death I shall fear no evil”, he mumbled.
Consumed by the hope that one day, just one day...
light will shine in his homeland – South Africa

A great leader of Africa has left,
departing at the end of a life of liberation and democracy
having lived in the Rivonia times,
the New york times and Sunday Heralds times,
the colonial times and the liberation times.
The times of freedom, truth and reconciliation,
blacks shaking hands with whites, whites hugging blacks,
Tata Madiba ushering democracy in Soweto,
the dark alleys of Johannesburg,
the beautiful beaches of Cape Town – beacon of Africa

A great leader of Africa is gone,
loud cries carried by the whispering wind,
telling me Tata Madiba is no more,
having departed on a quiet summer night,
the beautiful African City
the city where it all began - Johannesburg