Laughing Drums - David Amadu

History’s white hand wrote my country’s course

In a language that will come back and hunt her

In the twenty first century;

The man at the round-about calls it exploitation

Beyond redemption.

But I say it is far beyond our imagination.

Who would have ever thought

Shedding blood for diamonds will be our lot?

Not even the ruthless bullies

Who scrambled for our land to please their hungry bellies;

Nor did big city dwellers in their luxury

Have the faintest idea of our misery.

The man at the round-about says

We are in a conundrum

But I say let’s play our joyful laughing drums

Play our laughing drums

To the sound of hungry children chewing crumbs.

History’s white hand wrote

Signatories and pernicious agreements both

As IMF loans and World Bank Killer packages

Inflicting unparallel wounds and damages;

The man at the round-about calls it Neocolonialism

Without Comparison

But I say it’s beyond human realism

So let’s play our joyful laughing drums

To the sound of children chewing crumbs.

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David Amadu (20th century) Sierra Leone

Source: The African Book Review