IF WE MUST DIE by Claude McKay IF WE MUST DIE by Claude McKay ~ Selected Poems If we must die, let it not be like hogs Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot. While round us bark the mad and angry dogs Making their mock at our accursed lot If we must die, o … Read more
I REMEMBER by Naomi Mnthali (Malawi) ~ Growing Up With Poetry I remember, Countrymen, The days of ‘Dawn Over the Land’. Of hopes and expectations When I truly understood Slavery was a thing of the past – We, the people of the land, Had been freed. I was there when slowly Darkness set in. The … Read more
LET ME NOT TO THE MARRIAGE OF TRUE MINDS by W. SHAKESPEARE (ENGLAND) ~ Growing Up With Poetry Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove: O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark, That looks … Read more
AFRICA BY David Diop (Senegal) ~ Growing Up With Poetry Africa my Africa Africa of proud warriors in the ancestral savannahs Africa of whom my grandmother sings On the banks of the distant river I have never known you But your blood flows in my veins Your beautiful black blood that irrigates the fields The … Read more
DEATH BE NOT PROUD BY JOHN DONNE (England)) ~ Growing Up with Poetry (NECTA 2009) with reference to the poem below highlight the central theme and relate it to what is currently happening in our society. Death be not proud, though some have called thee Might and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those … Read more
A FREEDOM SONG (BY Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye (Kenya) ~Growing Up with Poetry Atieno washes dishes, Atieno plucks the chicken, Atieno gets up early, Beds her sucks down in the kitchen, Atieno eight years old Atieno yo. Since she’s my sister’s child Atieno needs no pay While she works my wife can sit Sewing each … Read more
BUILDING THE NATION By Christopher H. M. Barlow (Uganda) Today I did my share In building the nation. I drove the permanent secretary To an important urgent function In fact to a luncheon at the Vic. The menu reflected its importance Cold Bell beer with small talk, Then fried chicken with niceties Wine to … Read more
Road Accidents By Charles Mloka ~ The Wonderful Surgeon and Other Poems Road Accidents By Charles Mloka ~ The Wonderful Surgeon and Other Poems When I think of my father, my tears roll. I lost an opportunity to join high school. To enjoy the fruits of education. Today, a beggar I’m, stationed on this point … Read more
Rights of a Woman By Charles Mloka ~ The Wonderful Surgeon and Other Poems Rights of a Woman By Charles Mloka ~ The Wonderful Surgeon and Other Poems Rights of a Woman By Charles Mloka Rights of a woman, Mean entitlement of all human rights, Like the right to life, And all related rights, Such … Read more
Where there is justice truth is inseparable, Where there is fair decision there is objectivity, When you adjudicate always observe facts, To do otherwise, Your judgment will be influenced by hypocrisy, If you entertain friendliness, There is the likelihood of miscarriage of justice, When the case comes before you, Exercise the right to be heard … Read more