War, war, war - Patricia Mercy

War, war, war
Who are you and where do you come from?

To my Mother - Camara Laye

Black woman, African woman, O mother, I think of you …
O Dâman, O mother,
who carried me on your back, who nursed me,

The Faithful Soul - Hildebert of Lavardin

With changeless faith the turtle-dove
To one sole mate gives all her love;
With him alone, in union sweet,
Both night and day her pulses beat.

No, Poetry - Amilcar Cabral

No, Poetry
Do not hide within the inscrutability of my soul

Children of the Sun and the Wind - Mohammed Ebnu

We still live
on the brink of nothingness,
between the north and south of the seasons

Gorée Baobab Island - Suzanne Tanella Boni

(1)
perhaps happiness is so far away
invisible among the tamarind leaves
when my hand brushes the fruit
to share them with spirits laughing at man’s
cruelty to man

Shame and Fear - Ndouna Depenaud

It's raining and it's sunny and the ghosts are
babbling twins behind the trees.
Grandfather, who knows how to make you laugh.
You whose beard blooms with anecdotes.
Tell us a beautiful story, do you want?

Have you heard it tell? - Fidelia Nimmons

Have you heard it tell that:
His Majesty Oba O’s country
Was abundantly rich in,
All manner of natural resources,
Rubber, cocoa, cotton, palm kernel and more.

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.

How great, how beautiful that Sabbath rest - Peter Abelard

How great, how beautiful that Sabbath rest,
Kept in the court eternal of the blest!
Repose for weary souls! for brave reward!
For there our all in all shall be the Lord.