O Africa, can you hear me in Madagascar?
It was the black scars that made me left Accra
Passing through Dakar in my car.
I hope I’ll see the logo when I get to Togo
But for now am in Congo.
Ask Ovo, I bought muovo at Port-Novo
And St. Louis at Port-Louis
But before I arrived at Bissau, my beans got soured.
Through Abu, I met Jah in Abuja
And stopped using Jazzz (Juju).
This made me to start playing Jazz.
I took a trip to Tripoli where I went to poly
But it didn’t make me holy
It only made me a boxer in Botswana.
Do you want us to speak Patwah?
Then, let’s go to Ethiopia near Somalia.
I think if we gather at Uganda, we can go to Luanda,
But if tomorrow you find yourself in Morocco
Please stop by at Cairo and don’t forget to go to Bamako.
Am very sure Kaka has gone to Lusaka
And by way I saw Simba in Zimbabwe.
Ask Dan, you will be sued in Sudan or Djibouti
If you are caught touching Jane’s Booty.
O Africa, let’s look at your map
For we are not in Pluto;
We are in Maputo going to Malabo
And I believe we shall get to Malawi.
Can I buy gala in Kampala?
That’s just a question.
Africa! Africa! Africa!
How many times have I called You?
Let together take charge in Chad
For if truly you are Free,
Then you will come to my Town at Cape-Town or Cape Verde.
Tommy, mummy wants to see you at Sao Tome.
The last time I saw Ken,
He was in Kenya with his wife Enya,
So with his rover we drove to Monrovia through Cote d’Ivoire
To see Victoria near Mauritania not too far from Tanzania.
Na so! When I went to Burkina Faso!
I heard the moon in Cameroon comes out only at noon.
Is it Miami or Niamey?
Is it Ligali or Kigali?
Is it Switzerland or Swaziland?
I don’t know,
But When I get to the corner of the Creeks
At Conakry I will make a decree
Where we shall all read the Creed.
I am not shy to ask if there a King in Kinshasa?
If there is, then there must be a Bond in Gabon(d).
So from Gambia, I will go to Zambia
And stop by at Namibia to see my dear lady, Lydia.
Ladies be warned,
You can’t use Mascara in Asmara.
Before Unis traveled to Tunis
She stopped at Banjul in June
To buy some bangles in Bangui.
When we all get to Algiers, we shall all cheers
Because at Burundi we were a bit moody.
We must not forget the oath we took at Lesotho
That as Africans, it is up to us
To remove the veil so that we will not
Live in vain for blood flows in our veins.
The future of Africa is a picture
Of a bright continent that you can see on the internet.
A land of freedom where you are free and not dumb;
To be able to speak like the talking drum;
A land of a thousand hills of wonderful trees;
A land of the sun city
Where we can see the beautiful colors of diversity;
A land of great culture
Where we were once tortured
And later nurtured which has made us matured.
Shouting aloud, I am the voice of peace;
Sometimes I hear the gunshot of bullets
And the thunderous uproar of bombs
Dancing to the rhythmic drumbeats of war in Africa.
But we should never listen
Or dance to its deceptive tunes,
For they seek to paint only the red color of blood
On our White walls of love.
Wherever you are in Africa,
You are always welcome home
Because this is your motherland.
Now, let us forget the past
But lets not forget what it taught us.
Today, let me be plain
We have gone through too much pain.
Its time for us and our children to gain
And dance in this new reign of abundance.
Now is the time to brace and embrace ourselves
To be able to run this race
So that by His grace in the end we will not be a disgrace.
meet the poet: Alfred Marshal Offei
