Maribuye

(Dialog - South Africa)
Second Place Award at CNC Annual Writer's Conference, 1988
Published in Beacon, 1988 Edition

Copyright © 1997, 2004
Jason Lester Atkins
985 Fleet Drive, #347
Virginia Beach, VA 23454
All Rights Reserved.


Seven generations ago, you came.
Sliding in from bush and veldt, you came.
Into the lands of the "Hottentot," you came.
Claiming his lands as Tribal Right, you came.

African Leader "Maribuye" Chiefs say, its yours to use.
Sanction they say, crush the credit, they say.
Destroy they say, political power, they say.
Blind minds forget to say, all people lose.

* * * *

You schooled us in freedom but, not for our use.
Our children cry "Bread" but, eat your abuse.
Hot blood for revenge pounds in our ears.
Loose the bonds now, save our children from tears.

* * * *

Mama sings, "Hush little baby don’t you cry."
Papa sings, "Break their neck and watch them die."


Some Information About the Above Poem

"Maribuye" is Swahili for "Africa, Come Back." (Jason Lester Atkins, June 8, 2003.)

At the Barrons Christmas Feast, I was seated between two retired Nuns who had spent 40 years in South Africa. The lines of the Sonnet tells the story of their life experiences there. The closing couplet is actually sung by native people working in the homes of the whites. They sing to the tune of nursery rhymes familiar to their employers but in their native language. This has been done in pleasant defiance for years. (Jason Lester Atkins, December 30, 1996.)

Won prize at 7th Annual Writers Conference at Christopher Newport College on April 16th. Prize was for Poetry (2nd win by the way). Poem dealth with Apartheid (Title) "Africa Come Back." Got the idea at a dinner party where I was seated in between two very old retired Nuns who had spent 40 years in South Africa. They gave me a view and a voice. (Jason Lester Atkins, May 5, 1988.)


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