Hope to the end - Joseph Kokou Koffigoh

I saw everything that day: the lightning in the sky,
Armed by tyrant explosives and lightning;
The bursts of hope struck at the heavy weapon;
The distraught hope calling on the Lord.

The son was beaten all over his body;
Hair torn off, the queen was in pain
While the winners exhibited on the chains
The trophies of the package for their godfathers of the north.

And this great shepherd stripped to his underpants;
Who, bathed in his blood, was able to remain dignified
Under the sharp fangs; and these unworthy photos
that still circulate in images and sounds.

And this other great cleric broke at close range,
The tattered face, made unrecognizable,
While he went without a weapon and without a cell,
Mandated by the chief he had loved so much.

Nothing really missed the script of the film:
Strokes, blood, death, the rape of innocence,
The laughter of the wicked enjoying the silence
Good Samaritan indifferent to the crime.

Nothing really missed the curious soap opera:
Jacket invasions called allegiance,
bogus confessions and alliance overthrow ...
Jubilation and glory to all new bosses.

Can I continue without causing the tears
of those who have lived it? Many are in exile;
Of those who have suffered, many are on the grill
Of the army of the victors, the judges under their spell.

May I invoke this time, without raising the heart
Of the greatest prisoner deported into the abyss
Of a cynical world, against dirty bonuses;
Who could forget this great man of honour?

For our hearts continue to beat in unison;
One day he will come back to forgive the satraps.
Look at his executioners! Their past snags them,
Even if they left the box-rebellion.

We see on them the north closing suddenly!
They will no longer find a new base
to drive out hope at the bottom of the net;
Fear changes sides and takes them by the neck.

The man exclaimed: "we will go to the end"?
I see the past again: hope was weary;
Blood flowed, the future deadlocked;
But he got up again, he is still standing.

Soon will be split, in two, the deep sea;
The people will pass the ocean on dry feet in
front of the battalions that will sink with
Pharaoh's chariots in the foam of the waves.

Then the last word will be finally to God;
The Angel will proclaim the end of servitude;
The people will have received the certainty
that they have reason to believe in the Merciful.

---

Joseph Kokou Koffigoh (born 1948) Togo
Source: Civox [link no longer live]