Whom Shall We Stand For? Poem by Wesongah David

When we spoke, we wanted them to listen,
And when we spoke, we spoke nothing.
We cried, and yearned for a second liberation,
Blood, sweat, tears, toil gone for nothing
And when we stood tall and spoke not,
They all paid attention!

It was never an option,
Silence never an answer,
Taken for granted, our word against them,
Stand tall and die on my feet,
Never lean on affirmative,
What do you take me for?
The look of a mother that can’t feed her children,
Crawling, crawling, crawling on no feet!
And all we can do is cry?

For how long shall we chant freedom songs,
That bore no meaning then, now?
Freedom songs under a cloud of ignorance,
My roots my foot!

When I stood in the open fields,
And made my undue submission,
My argument weak unto itself,
A weakness unto myself,
A wavering voice pained to the brim,
A tantrum throwing papa denied teenage,
An ego filled youth ready to fly on no premise,
But that was a weakness,
Unto itself. Unto thyself.

The pain in my laughter has no love,
Lost in a pool of lust for pain, for hunger,
That I know not the depth of my sullenness,
A shame to behold in ignorant bliss,
That you, you can point a finger and say,
I knew not. I knew not!
The virgin depths of my adulterated thoughts,
And Ideas,
I know not. Of which we know not.
But for whom shall we stand for?