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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Subject: AFRICA Matches Found: 305 UPDATE command denied to user 'poetryex_users'@'localhost' for table `poetryex_poems`.`subcnt` A FAR CRY FROM AFRICA, by DEREK WALCOTT Poem Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A wind is ruffling the tawny pelt Subject(s): Africa; African Americans - History; Ancestors & Ancestry; Black Heritage; Heritage; Heredity A KIND-HEARTED STATUE, by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: The quiet little transvaal Last Line: Why, it is blest again! Subject(s): Kruger, Stephanus Johannes (1825-1904); Statues; Transvaal, South Africa A MEMORIAL OF AFRICA, by GEORGE MACDONALD Poem Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Upon a rock I sat - a mountain-side Last Line: Unfold a world, that I, thy child, might see. Subject(s): Africa; Creation; God A SONG FOR SOWETO, by JUNE JORDAN Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: At the throat of soweto Last Line: With the song of soweto Subject(s): Soweto, South Africa; Racism; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry ABAFAZI (WOMEN), by DENNIS BRUTUS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Where the shining tyumie river Last Line: And give their lives: %the struggle continues Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John Subject(s): Mandela, Nelson (b. 1918); South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement ABANDONED TOWN IN THE TRANSVAAL, by JOHN BRANDER Poem Source First Line: It is a quiet world %in the eastern transvaal Last Line: As if %someone has gone %and may not be back %soon Subject(s): Transvaal, South Africa ABOUT GRAFFITI, by CHRISTOPHER VAN WYK Poem Source First Line: Graffiti is the writing on the wall Last Line: Soon garffiti will wade into jo'burg %unhampered by the tourniquet of influx control Subject(s): Graffiti; South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement ABUDANCE, by MAZISI KUNENE Poem Source First Line: I possess a thousand thundering voices Last Line: But again and again the branches shoot forth with new seasons Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement AEROGRAM PUNJAB, by REETIKA VAZIRANI Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: We sailed by africa, back home [or, pyramids] Last Line: You're good with maps. Find me [or, what a holiday. I'm a globe] Subject(s): Africa; Geography; Maps; Sailors And Sailing; Travel AFAR IN THE DESERT, by THOMAS PRINGLE Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Afar in the desert I love to ride Last Line: Saying, -- man is distant, but god is near! Subject(s): Adversity; Africa; Consolation AFREEKA BRASS, by MWATABU OKANTAH Poem Source First Line: I hear you trane Last Line: And black ... %africa Subject(s): Africa; Coltrane, John (1926-1967); Jazz; Music And Musicians AFRICA, by LUCILLE CLIFTON Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Home / oh Last Line: All of my bones / remember Subject(s): Africa; African Americans; Home; Memory; Negroes; American Blacks AFRICA, by LUCILLE CLIFTON Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Home %oh Last Line: All of my bones %remember Subject(s): Africa; African Americans; Home; Memory AFRICA, by DAVID DIOP Poem Source First Line: Africa my africa %africa of proud warriors in the ancestral savannahs Last Line: Slowly its fruits grow to have %the bitter taste of liberty Subject(s): Africa AFRICA, by DAVID DIOP Poem Source First Line: Africa my africa Last Line: The bitter taste of liberty Subject(s): Africa AFRICA, by JAMES RUSSELL GRANT Poem Source First Line: Africa. Skull with a golden chin Last Line: Doe eyes Subject(s): Africa; Travel AFRICA, by MARIA WHITE LOWELL Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: She sat where the level sands Last Line: Rigid and black, as carved in stone. Subject(s): Africa; Nature; Singing & Singers; Songs AFRICA, by ILVA MACKAY Poem Source First Line: Africa %mother of children Last Line: The sound of warriors answering the call for freedom Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement AFRICA, by CLAUDE MCKAY Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The sun sought thy dim bed and brought forth light Last Line: Of all the mighty nations of the sun. Alternate Author Name(s): Edwards, Eli Subject(s): Africa AFRICA, by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Oh! She is very old. I lay Last Line: "old sphinx, behold, we cannot read!" Alternate Author Name(s): Miller, Joaquin Subject(s): Africa AFRICA PAESE NOTTURNO, by KENNETH KOCH Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography Last Line: Just one ray of light africa my africa Subject(s): Africa AFRICA PAESE NOTTURNO, by KENNETH KOCH Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography Last Line: Just one ray of light %africa my africa Subject(s): Africa AFRICA REVISITED, by ROBERT DUNCAN Poet Analysis Recitation by Author Poet's Biography Subject(s): Africa AFRICA, MUSIC AND SHOW BUSINESS, by ABDULLAH IBRAHIM Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: Geography / so many theories of east and west abound Last Line: And she scratched vaguely under her armpit. Subject(s): Africa; Jazz; Music & Musicians AFRICAN DREAM, by BOB KAUFMAN Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: In black core of night, it explodes Last Line: Green screams enfold my night Subject(s): Africa; Dreams; Nightmares AFRICAN MOON SONG, by EDA LOU WALTON Poem Text First Line: Step down from the waters Last Line: Is crying for rest! Subject(s): Africa AFRICAN PROMETHEUS, by DAVID+(2) EVANS Poem Source First Line: High %upon the krantz Last Line: Prometheus %endures Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement AFRICAN SEQUENCE, by WILLIAM JAY SMITH Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Down from the woodlands and over the whispering dunes Subject(s): Africa AFRICAN VIOLETS, by ELEANOR G. R. YOUNG Poem Text First Line: How the wind shrieks! Last Line: Of far-off africa. Subject(s): Africa; Flowers; Jungles; Travel; Violets; Journeys; Trips AFTERMATH, by MAZISI KUNENE Poem Source First Line: The rains will be levelling the mounds we have dedicated to liberty Last Line: Which will be coming so long as we advance, brother, advance Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement AGRARIAN REFORM, by CHRISTOPHER VAN WYK Poem Source First Line: I saw a black man Last Line: There is still time Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement ALL THAT WE NEED, 4 A.M., by SUSAN RICH Poem Source First Line: The train threads a needle through the night Last Line: Gives way, and lovers sigh, turn over, %too full of light to sleep Subject(s): Cape Town, South Africa; Travel ALL WENT MAGNIFICENT IN '21, by UNKNOWN+289 Poem Source First Line: We address our people's cause Last Line: The clapping of our guns %curtain-calls the fisted years Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement ALL WILL BE OURS AGAIN, by UNKNOWN+289 Poem Source First Line: To us the progeny Last Line: It will come back %all will be ours again Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement AND DENIS GOLDBERG, by DAVID+(2) EVANS Poem Source First Line: Many those %who saw Last Line: We value it no less Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement AND I WATCH IT IN MANDELA, by JOHN MATSHIKZAI Poem Source First Line: It is not to wait until the sky is blue Last Line: And I watch it in mandela Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement AND SWEET SMELL OF DUST DEFEATED, by UNKNOWN+289 Poem Source First Line: Clouds are contrasts to the sky Last Line: And sweet smell of dust defeated Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement AND WORTHY SONS OF THE LAND, by UNKNOWN+288 Poem Source First Line: Distended stomachs %of our children Last Line: Their beings %torn asunder Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement ANNEALED MICROPOLIS, by COSMO PIETERSE Poem Source First Line: Our karroo now has midwinter as its heart Last Line: Annulling and healing cold drought, in november Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement ANOTHER DAY (FOR BRAM FISCHER), by HUGH LEWIN Poem Source First Line: It was like any other day Last Line: Like any other day Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement ANTHEM FOR A NEW DAY, by CHRISTOPHER VAN WYK Poem Source First Line: I've been woken mornings Last Line: If I'd ask you to write the symphony Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement ASSEVERATIONS, by ARTHUR NORTJE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: The fire will not ask me to make its bed Last Line: There is never work without resistance Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement ASYLUM, by BREYTEN BREYTENBACH Poem Source First Line: At first those closest to you shot holes in you Last Line: Only with love as the body for your death Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement AT A FUNERAL, by DENNIS BRUTUS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Black, green and gold at sunset; pageantry Last Line: Better that we should die, than that we should lie down Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement AT HOME IN DAKAR, by MARGARET DANNER Poem Source First Line: When the african arts Last Line: Feeling neither too ill nor too old Subject(s): Africa; African Americans - History; Art And Artists AT LANSDOWNE BRIDGE, by ARTHUR NORTJE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: After the whoosh of doors slid shut Last Line: Cornering, holds it in spidery light Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement AT THE DAWN I SAW AFRICA, by JOHN MATSHIKZAI Poem Source Last Line: Today I have died Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement AUTOPSY, by ARTHUR NORTJE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: My teachers are dead men. I was too young Last Line: Has infinite possibilities no longer Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement BAREFOOT BLACKMAN, by UNKNOWN+286 Poem Source First Line: Man of humble origin Last Line: Of empire %crumble Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement BEAST IN THE SOUTH, by JOHN PEPPER CLARK Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: At last the beast that moved south Last Line: Had hunted down to his den Alternate Author Name(s): Clark-bekederemo, J. P.; Clark, J. P. Subject(s): Concentration Camps; South Africa BEFORE INTERROGATION, by UNKNOWN+286 Poem Source First Line: Their triumph when landing him Last Line: They are taught to jump out %before interrogation Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement BEHIND A BARRED WINDOW, by HUGH LEWIN Poem Source Last Line: High %very high Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement BIDING TIME, by UNKNOWN+288 Poem Source Last Line: Building a certain future Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement BOY ON A SWING, by MBUYISENI OSWALD JOSEPH MTSHALI Poem Source First Line: Slowly he moves Last Line: Why was my father jailed? Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement BUILDING A FUTURE, by UNKNOWN+288 Poem Source First Line: There is no lament Last Line: On the hard rock %of time Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement CATENA, by DENNIS BRUTUS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Pray you, remember them Last Line: Father grieving %mothers weeping %bodies of children torn and bleeding %pray, remember them: %we rem Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John Subject(s): Africa - Neocolonialism; South Africa - Apartheid; Soweto, South Africa CELINE, by J. S. VENIT Poem Source First Line: Is africa a good place to hide? It must be far away Last Line: Pride I am so difficult to read and yet so largely %distinct or different Subject(s): Africa CHARLES GEORGE GORDON, by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: Not kilimanjaro towering to the sun Last Line: Ah, deathless is the glory, is the shame! Alternate Author Name(s): Dean Subject(s): Death; Gordon, Charles George (1833-1885); Kilimanjaro, Mount (africa); Dead, The CHEIK ANTA DIOP: POEM FOR THE LIVING, by MWATABU OKANTAH Poem Source First Line: To who do I say Last Line: For the living. Africa Subject(s): Africa; African Americans - History; Ancestors And Ancestry CHILD OF ISANDHLWANA (FOR SOLOMON MAHLANGU), by UNKNOWN+286 Poem Source First Line: In scaffold's chill shadow Last Line: By arm as resolute as mandela's Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement CHILD OF THE CRISIS, by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE Poem Source Poet's Biography Last Line: To know our sorrow %is to know our joy Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement CHILD WHO WAS SHOT DEAD BY SOLDIERS IN NYANGA, by INGRID JONKER Poem Source First Line: The child is not dead Last Line: The child grown to a giant travels through the whole world %without a pass Subject(s): South Africa - Apartheid CHRISTIAN SETTLEMENTS IN AFRICA, by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Winds! What have ye gathered from afric's strand Last Line: "when the sun from the midnight of chaos burst." Subject(s): Africa; Christianity; Missions & Missionaries CITY JOHANNESBURG, by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: This way I salute you: Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement CITY JOHANNESBURG, by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: This way I salute you: Last Line: Jo'burg city, johannesburg, jo'burg city. Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement CITY OF LONDON PROFIT MAN, by UNKNOWN+286 Poem Source First Line: City gent %money gent Last Line: To greed - %pop! Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement COLONIZATION OF AFRICA, by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: All sights are fair to the recovered blind Last Line: "and mercy's voice has said, ""rejoice -- thy soul is free!" Subject(s): Africa COMPLETION OF THE PHOENICIAN, by SHAWN STURGEON Poem Source First Line: O, the phoenicians have just sailed around Last Line: But give the phoenicians their due - the world's %their word, and how nice to have seen it through Subject(s): Africa CONSCIOUSNESS, by BRENDAN KENNELLY Poem Source First Line: Back from africa, she says she's conscious of the fact Last Line: If it meant she could feed a starving child. Subject(s): Africa; Human Rights; Poetry And Poets COSMOS IN LONDON, by ARTHUR NORTJE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: Leaning over the wall at trafalgar square Last Line: The rat-toothed sea eats rock, and who escapes %a lover's quarrel will never rest his roots Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement COUNTERPOINT OF MARCHING FEET, by BARRY FEINBERG Poem Source First Line: We will %remember durban Last Line: When the sun ignites %above that town Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement DANCING WITH DIZZY (OR MANTECA, BY MR. BIRKS), by KWADWO OPOKU-AGYEMANG Poem Source First Line: These dancers are not used to waiting for the beat Last Line: I'll never go back to cape coast Subject(s): Africa; Dancing And Dancers; Gillespie, Dizzy (1917-1993) DEATH OF A MILITANT (FOR JOSEPH 'MKHUTHUZI' MDLULI), by UNKNOWN+286 Poem Source First Line: He was a broad, powerfully-made man Last Line: He shall be avenged! Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement DEATH ON A GOLD MINE, by LINDIWE MABUZA Poem Source First Line: After centuries of dead examples Last Line: In our continuous stream %of ripe blood Subject(s): Mines And Miners; South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement DIAMOND CUTTERS, by ADRIENNE CECILE RICH Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: However legendary %the stone is still a stone Last Line: And know that africa %will yield you no more Subject(s): Diamonds; South Africa DREAMING (A SONG OF AFRICA), by WALTER JAMES REDFERN TURNER Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: I am a barbarian out of the sunless forest Last Line: I hold a bright patch of the sky with those hills and earth's delicate antlers. Subject(s): Africa DUAL NATIONALITY, by BARRY TAYLOR Poem Source First Line: Myself am shared by countries two Last Line: A double muse Subject(s): East Africa - Foreign Population DUSK, by VICTOR MOTAPANYANE Poem Source First Line: Dusk goads my mind Last Line: The everlasting spring of struggle - %patience, perserverance and success Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement EMBERS OF SOWETO, by UNKNOWN+286 Poem Source First Line: Out of the crucible %warrior army of new age Last Line: The cry vrystaat! Dries on assassin's lips Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement EMBRACING EXILE, by LINDIWE MABUZA Poem Source First Line: Yes %we drift Last Line: High on its sunlit crest %of awesome beauty Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement ENDURANCE: 5, by DENNIS BRUTUS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: When we shook hands in the athenian dusk Last Line: And the dark enclosure of wire %whose barbs are buried in my brain Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John Subject(s): Prisons And Prisoners; South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement EPITAPH OF LOVE (IN MEMORY OF SOLOMON MAHLANGU), by LINDIWE MABUZA Poem Source First Line: Where does the brave steel go Last Line: To the unbroken rhythm %of surging dancing spears Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement ETHIOPA, by FENTON JOHNSON Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: O minstrel lyre of ancient ethiop Last Line: Throughout the world his fellows of the dusk. Subject(s): Africa; Ethiopia; Haiti; Slavery; Serfs EVERY ATOM OF HIS SUBSTANCE (A TRIBUTE TO JACK HODGSON), by BARRY FEINBERG Poem Source First Line: Jack is here with us Last Line: As the moon pilots the night %towards the teeth of the sun Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement FACES OF COMMITMENT, by LINDIWE MABUZA Poem Source First Line: It's been long now Last Line: It also defines precisely %to bind us closer Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement FAR CRY FROM AFRICA, by DEREK WALCOTT Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A wind is ruffling the tawny pelt Last Line: How can I face such slaughter and be cool? %how can I turn from africa and live Subject(s): Africa; African Americans - History; Ancestors And Ancestry FEARFUL RUINS, by MAZISI KUNENE Poem Source First Line: On the broken walls %bats hang away from the sun Last Line: And cover their footsteps with desert dust Subject(s): South Africa FIREWING, by BREYTEN BREYTENBACH Poem Source First Line: When you think of your country Last Line: Or we'll teach the pigs to climb trees Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement FIRST DAY AFTER THE WAR, by MAZISI KUNENE Poem Source First Line: We heard the songs of a wedding party Last Line: We saw our ancestors travelling tall on the horizon Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement FLIGHT ACROSS AFRICA, by JOHN PEPPER CLARK Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: Earth, from miles up, lies Last Line: The bloody baft -- which is enough touchdown Alternate Author Name(s): Clark-bekederemo, J. P.; Clark, J. P. Subject(s): Africa; Aviation And Aviators; Flight; Travel FLIGHT OF THE SPEAR, by UNKNOWN+286 Poem Source First Line: Let all behold Last Line: You are as great as the mountains %of your country! Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement FOR A DEAD AFRICAN, by DENNIS BRUTUS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: We have no heroes and no wars Last Line: The warriors who secured the final prize Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement FOR BRAM FISCHER, by DAVID+(2) EVANS Poem Source First Line: This time has known no peace, not yet Last Line: Men have honoured you %we too Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement FOR CHIEF, by DENNIS BRUTUS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: So the old leonine heart is stilled Last Line: And how shall I express my gratitude and love? Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John Subject(s): Luthuli, Albert John (1898-1967); South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement FOR DON M. - BANNED, by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: It is a dry white season Last Line: But seasons come to pass Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement FORGET NOT OUR MOTHERS, by ILVA MACKAY Poem Source Last Line: Africa shall be free! %we shall free her! Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement FORWARD EVER!, by LINDIWE MABUZA Poem Source First Line: Like the bouncing sounds of seasons Last Line: In the future's pounding shores Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement FREEDOM DAY SONG, by UNKNOWN+289 Poem Source First Line: Each freedom day vorster Last Line: Is your nightmare now Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement FUNERAL OF ANOTHER VICTIM, by UNKNOWN+287 Poem Source First Line: Doornkop %black brawn thet we carry Last Line: Yet like a sea %it never reaches Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement GOD WILLED, WE IGEDE WON OUR FREEDOM, by UNKNOWN Poem Source Last Line: We igede won our freedom, truly Subject(s): Freedom; Igede (african People); Igedeland, Africa GOD'S OWN COUNTRY (RURAL AFRICA), by ARTHUR SHEARLY CRIPPS Poem Source First Line: Crying as babes cry Subject(s): Africa GOING TO JINJA, by JIM STUNTZ Poem Source First Line: For a thousand ugandan shillings Last Line: To shop, looking for a basket %for my mother Subject(s): Africa; Travel; Uganda GOING TO WORK, by MBUYISENI OSWALD JOSEPH MTSHALI Poem Source First Line: I go to work Last Line: Rolling under mr. De wiel's oxwagon Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement GOLD COAST CUSTOMS, by EDITH SITWELL Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: One fantee wave Last Line: For the fires of god go marching on. Subject(s): Customs, Social; Gold Coast, Africa GOLD-MINERS, by MAZISI KUNENE Poem Source First Line: Towers rise to the skies %sounds echo their music Last Line: Walking the deserted halls %we who are locked in the pits o f gold Subject(s): Gold Mines And Miners; South Africa GRAVEL IN MY THROAT, by UNKNOWN+288 Poem Source Last Line: I'll be damned if I talk Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement GREAT ONES, by MAZISI KUNENE Poem Source First Line: And the great ones are here %they have sat before the fire Last Line: They sing for us their poem %they narrate the story of our beginnings Subject(s): South Africa GREEN HILLS OF AFRICA, by ROY FULLER Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The green, humped, wrinkled hills: with such a look Last Line: And the emotion brought from a world already %dying of what starts to infect the hills Subject(s): Africa GROUP PHOTO FROM PRETORIA LOCAL .. FOURTH ANNIVERSARY, by JEREMY CRONIN Poem Source First Line: An uprooted tree leaves Last Line: Mostly in short pants, %some of us barefoot Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement GROWING, by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: No! %this is not dying when the trees Last Line: I'm teaching about the growing of things Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement GUERILLA, by COSMO PIETERSE Poem Source First Line: I sometimes feel a cold love burning Last Line: Even and all our death must lead Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement GUERILLAS, by DENNIS BRUTUS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: And I lie with my body curved to the light clay Last Line: And a fierce will to smash an evil cruel thing Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement GUILT, by KOFI ANYIDOHO Poem Source First Line: And they opened up his wound Last Line: But they hanged him all the same Subject(s): Africa - Neocolonialism; Capital Punishment HAG RIDING, by LUCILLE CLIFTON Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Why / is what I ask myself Last Line: I ride I ride Subject(s): Africa; Hope; Life; Self-satisfaction; Optimism HAG RIDING, by LUCILLE CLIFTON Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Why %is what I ask myself Last Line: Over the rump of the day and honey %I ride -- I ride Subject(s): Africa; Hope; Life; Self-satisfaction HANDCUFFS, by MBUYISENI OSWALD JOSEPH MTSHALI Poem Source First Line: Handcuffs %have steel fangs Last Line: Have hope, brother, %despair is for the defeated Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement HANG, by HUGH LEWIN Poem Source First Line: I once met a man Last Line: Finish and klaar %a corpse Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement HELL, WELL, HEAVEN, by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: I do not know where I have been Last Line: Was that thoko's voice? %hell, well, heavens! Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement HERITAGE, by COUNTEE CULLEN Poem Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: What is africa to me Subject(s): Africa; African Americans - History; Black Heritage HERITAGE, by COUNTEE CULLEN Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: What is africa to me Last Line: Lest the grave restore its dead. %not yet has my heart or head %in the least way realized %they and Subject(s): Africa; African Americans - History HERITAGE OF LIBERATION, by MAZISI KUNENE Poem Source First Line: Since it was you who in all these thin seasons Last Line: We bequeath to you the rays of morning Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement HISTORY OF IGEDE, by MICAH ICHEGBEH Poem Source First Line: I have a history to narrate Last Line: Our kinship was truly from the beginning of time! Subject(s): Igede (african People); Igedeland, Africa HOMECOOKED SUN-DRIED, by UNKNOWN+289 Poem Source First Line: Beasts are preying in our land Last Line: Monomanic %misanthropes Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement HOMEWARD BOUND, by ES'KIA MPHAHLELE Poem Source First Line: The mountains that I like Last Line: You need not look just the way I want Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement HOPE, by VICTOR MOTAPANYANE Poem Source First Line: Night embers are burning Last Line: Envelops our miserable lives Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement HUSBAND AND HEATHEN, by SAM WALTER FOSS Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: O'er the men of ethiopia she would pour her cornucopia Last Line: For the terra del fuegian and the turcoman and turk. Subject(s): Africa; Charity; Heresy; Women; Philanthropy; Heretics HYMN FOR THE HEALING OF STRIFE, by NEWMAN HOWARD Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: Heroes of hampden's race, and ye Last Line: And bind the bonds of brotherhood! Subject(s): Africa; Fights; Freedom; Peace; Liberty I AM THE EXILE, by DENNIS BRUTUS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography Last Line: I hear the cries and sirens Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement I FOUND SOUTH AFRICAN BREWERIES MOST HOSPITABLE, by KIT WRIGHT Poem Source First Line: Meat smell of blood in locked rooms I cannot smell it Last Line: My only consideration is my family Subject(s): South Africa I REMEMBER SHARPEVILLE, by SIPHO SYDNEY SEPAMLA Poem Source First Line: On the 21st of march 1960 Last Line: Africa's priceless heritage to mankind Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement I WILL WAIT, by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: I have tasted, ever so often Last Line: Having been so flooded and so dry, %I wait Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement I, A FREEDOM FIGHTER, by UNKNOWN+288 Poem Source First Line: I am the guttural sounds of your fear Last Line: Nay, to throw it in an endless pit Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement IF POETS MUST HAVE FLAGS, by DAVID+(2) EVANS Poem Source First Line: They %ask for graceful poetry Last Line: If we must have flags - %let them be always red Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement IMPROVE YOUR FATHERLAND, THEN, by ODEH IGBANG Poem Source First Line: Iruh: when the grass burns, we hunt its field Last Line: You do not send an impatient one Subject(s): Igede (african People); Igedeland, Africa; Nigeria; Politics IN DETENTION, by CHRISTOPHER VAN WYK Poem Source First Line: He fell from the ninth floor Last Line: He hung from a piece of soap while washing Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement IN LABOUR PRISONS CONJURED, by UNKNOWN+288 Poem Source First Line: In the ripe-banana coloured sun Last Line: I shall count aloud our blessings %in sacrifice Subject(s): Prisons And Prisoners; South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement IN MAN LIES ALL HIS REVOLUTION, by COSMO PIETERSE Poem Source First Line: February %each young man dead Last Line: We swear %lie %basil Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement IN PRAISE OF ANCESTORS, by MAZISI KUNENE Poem Source First Line: Even now the forefathers still live Last Line: We sing the anthems that celebrate their great eras %for in deed life does not begin with us Subject(s): South Africa INJUSTICE, by CHRISTOPHER VAN WYK Poem Source First Line: Me, I cry easily if you're hurt Last Line: I'll never get used to nightmares %but often in dream of freedom Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement ISANDHLWANDA, by ZINJIVA NKONDO Poem Source First Line: Isandhlwanda %mayihlome! The war-cry Last Line: Let the spear sing Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement J.B. MARKS: AN EPITAPH, by BARRY FEINBERG Poem Source First Line: He was a mountain of a man Last Line: Let's look (as he once did) %to others among us! Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement JAMESON'S RIDE, by ALFRED AUSTIN Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Wrong! Is it wrong? Well, may be Last Line: Than the crushings of all the rand. Subject(s): Jameson, Leander Starr (1853-1917); Transvaal, South Africa JOURNEY, by BREYTEN BREYTENBACH Poem Source First Line: Ringing out from our blue heavens Last Line: Such is death this blood in our veins: %freedom or death Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement JUNE 16 YEAR OF THE SPEAR, by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: They call me freedomchild Last Line: All over this land of mine Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse Subject(s): South Africa KILIMANDJARO, by BAYARD TAYLOR Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: Hail to thee, monarch of african mountains Last Line: Father of nile and creator of egypt! Alternate Author Name(s): Taylor, James Bayard Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; Egypt; Kilimanjaro, Mount (africa); Mountains; Nile (river); Hills; Downs (great Britain) KISENYI, by JOHN BUTLER Poem Source First Line: Let us not lie to ourselves Last Line: That is very heart Subject(s): Africa LETTER FROM KAMPALA, by JOHN PEPPER CLARK Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: At this other end of africa Last Line: To get home to you Alternate Author Name(s): Clark-bekederemo, J. P.; Clark, J. P. Subject(s): Africa; Letters; Memory; Writing And Writers LETTER FROM PRETORIA CENTRAL PRISON, by ARTHUR NORTJE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: The bell wakes me at 6 in the pale spring dawn Last Line: Sorry there's no more space. But date your reply Subject(s): Prisons And Prisoners; South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement LETTER TO OLIVER TAMBO ON 75 ANNIVERSARY OF AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS, by JOHN PEPPER CLARK Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: Too long, tambo, it's too long Last Line: Blown this day by j.P. Clark from nigeria Alternate Author Name(s): Clark-bekederemo, J. P.; Clark, J. P. Subject(s): Angola; Freedom; South Africa LIGHTS, by JOHN MATSHIKZAI Poem Source First Line: No looking back, no turning around, we've said Last Line: Hard lights are flashing on Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement LILIAN NGOYI, by UNKNOWN+286 Poem Source First Line: Lilian %I hear you are fifty-nine Last Line: Should be beautiful %like you Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement LIVINGSTONE, by FRANCIS BROOKS Poem Text First Line: On dusky shoulders Last Line: Death! Subject(s): Africa; Courage; Immortality; Slavery; Valor; Bravery; Serfs LONG DROP, by UNKNOWN+286 Poem Source First Line: Look down %from a headlong-height Last Line: The murderers stand %above the abyss Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement LOVE EXILE LAND, by COSMO PIETERSE Poem Source First Line: I shall not be sad Last Line: And become one, and grow on forever Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement LOVEPOEM FROM PRISON, by DAVID+(2) EVANS Poem Source First Line: It takes the dark to make me see Last Line: I can absolve - if you will absolve in turn Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement LUTA CONTINUA (FOR DUMA NOKWE), by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: If in the ritual delirium we felt Last Line: His name is spear of the nation. Mayibuye! Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement MANDELA'S SERMON, by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: Blessed are the dehumanized Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse Subject(s): Mandela, Nelson (b. 1918); South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement MANIFESTO, by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: This then is our choice and task Last Line: Change is going to come Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement MASOCHISM, by ZINJIVA NKONDO Poem Source First Line: Words - %powerful and rhetoric Last Line: Enjoying painful excitement %masochism Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement MAYIBUYE IAFRICA, by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: Like the memories %of fatherless black children Last Line: Translated memory rides %past and future alike Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement ME AND THE RAIN, by CHRISTOPHER VAN WYK Poem Source First Line: Tonight it rains Last Line: The rain inspires me. %pula! Pula! Pula! Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement MEASURE FOR MEASURE, by SIPHO SYDNEY SEPAMLA Poem Source First Line: Go measure the distance from cape town to pretoria Last Line: Let me tell you this %you'll never know how far I stand from you Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement MEN IN CHAINS, by MBUYISENI OSWALD JOSEPH MTSHALI Poem Source First Line: The train stopped %at a country station Last Line: The train went on its way to nowhere Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement METAMORPHOSIS, by CHRISTOPHER VAN WYK Poem Source First Line: Hardly out of a napkin Last Line: Now I understand Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement MIDSUMMER SLEEP AND ZIMBABWE BATTLEFIELD, by COSMO PIETERSE Poem Source First Line: Listening grey with seed-spill Last Line: When morning its lustrousness on the pearl shell %now pour it Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement MIDSUMMER: 4, by DEREK WALCOTT Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: This spanish port, piractical in deverseness Last Line: The plaza's cracked by the jungle's furious seed Subject(s): Africa; Summer MOTHO KE MOTHO KA BATHO BABANG (A PERSON IS A PERSON BECAUSE OF OTHER, by JEREMY CRONIN Poem Source First Line: By holding my mirror out of the window I see Last Line: In my mirror, %a black fist Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement MOTIVATED TO DEATH, by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: We knew each other well Last Line: Shall so die. %even in alex? Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement MY BROTHERS IN THE STREETS, by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: Oh you black boys Last Line: It's black women who are crying Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement MY MOTHER'S POEM, by MICERE GITHAE MUGO Poem Source First Line: The day after %my father Last Line: My father %was buried Subject(s): Africa - Neocolonialism; Fathers; Funerals; Mothers NATIVE'S LETTER, by ARTHUR NORTJE Poet's Biography First Line: Habitable planets are unknown or too Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement NATIVE'S LETTER, by ARTHUR NORTJE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: Habitable planets are unknown or too Last Line: For some of us must storm the castles %some define the happening Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement NEAR-JOHANNESBURG BOY, by GWENDOLYN BROOKS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: My way is from woe to wonder Last Line: We shall Subject(s): South Africa NEW AGE, by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: The questions which have always been here Last Line: Are a worker's song of fidelity %to the land that mothered you Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement NIGHTFALL IN SOWETO, by MBUYISENI OSWALD JOSEPH MTSHALI Poem Source First Line: Nightfall comes like %a dreaded disease Last Line: Why can't it be daytime? %daytime for evermore? Subject(s): Danger; Human Rights; Night; Soweto, South Africa NIGHTSONG: CITY, by DENNIS BRUTUS Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Sleep well, my love, sleep well Last Line: My sounds begin again. Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John Subject(s): Great Britain - Commonwealth & Colonies; South Africa - Apartheid; British Empire; England - Empire NO CAUSE FOR ALARM, by BARRY FEINBERG Poem Source First Line: A warning %in confidence Last Line: For the sake of us all, %and your farm Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement NO MORE STRANGERS, by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: It were us, it is us Last Line: We will tell freedom %we are no more strangers now Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement NOSTALGIA, by REBECCA MATLOU Poem Source First Line: Nostalgia you are not repellent Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement NOZIZWE, by MAZISI KUNENE Poem Source First Line: You were to be the centre of our dream Last Line: By their sunken eyes your body was cursed %the moving river shall swallow it! Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement; Treason And Traitors OCTOBER IN THE KINGDOM OF THE POOR, by LORNA GOODISON Poem Source First Line: October, month for rainy weather Last Line: The stars just come and encircle my head %in a gracious diad Subject(s): Africa; Ancestors And Ancestry; October; Poverty OLIFANTS CAMP, by W. PATRICK MCCAFFERTY Poem Source First Line: To olifants camp we came Last Line: Set on the sheltered veldt Subject(s): Africa; Travel ON BEING ASKED TO WRITE A POEM FOR 1979, by JACK A. MAPANJE Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: Without kings and warriors occasional verse fails Subject(s): Africa; Death - Children; Poetry & Poets; Death - Babies ON BEING ASKED TO WRITE A POEM FOR 1979, by JACK A. MAPANJE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: Without kings and warriors occasional verse fails Last Line: The year of the child must make no difference then %where tadpoles are never allowed to grow into fr Subject(s): Africa; Death - Children; Poetry And Poets ON BEING BROUGHT FROM AFRICA TO AMERICA, by PHILLIS WHEATLEY Poem Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Recitation Poet's Biography First Line: Twas mercy brought me from my pagan land Last Line: May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train. Alternate Author Name(s): Peters, Phillis Subject(s): Africa; African Americans - Women; Love - Loss Of; Mortality ON SOME SOUTH AFRICAN NOVELISTS, by IGNATIUS ROYSTON DUNNACHIE CAMPBELL Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: You praise the firm restraint with which they write Alternate Author Name(s): Campbell, Roy Subject(s): Authors & Authorship; South Africa ON SOME SOUTH AFRICAN NOVELISTS, by IGNATIUS ROYSTON DUNNACHIE CAMPBELL Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: You praise the firm restraint with which they write Last Line: But where's the bloody horse? Alternate Author Name(s): Campbell, Roy Subject(s): Authors And Authorship; South Africa ON THE COMING VICTORY, by DENNIS BRUTUS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Behind the dark hills Last Line: The long night lumbers grudingly %into the past Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement ON THE DEATH OF YOUNG GUERILLAS, by MAZISI KUNENE Poem Source First Line: You called me, but I made no response in that night Last Line: Could it be you are blind in your destruction? Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement; War ON THE SAME (ON SOME SOUTH AFRICAN NOVELISTS), by IGNATIUS ROYSTON DUNNACHIE CAMPBELL Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: Far from the vulgar haunts of men Last Line: And writing novels with her broom Alternate Author Name(s): Campbell, Roy Subject(s): Authors And Authorship; South Africa ON TOP OF AFRICA, by BAHADUR TEJANI Poem Source First Line: Nothing but the stillness Last Line: On the way %ti kilimanjaro Subject(s): Kilimanjaro, Mount (africa) OPEN LETTER, by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: We say what is lost Last Line: Another way of defining relationships Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement OTTFFSSENTE, by KENNETH REXROTH Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Twelve / a dozen / a docent Last Line: All sang / do Subject(s): Africa OTTFFSSENTE, by KENNETH REXROTH Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Twelve %a dozen %a docent Last Line: And the tiger %all sang %do Subject(s): Africa OUR HOME-COMING, by UNKNOWN+287 Poem Source First Line: Feet flat against the streets Last Line: The blood that we shall have shed Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement OX HOOVES TROD HEAVILY, by UNKNOWN+286 Poem Source Last Line: The oval shape %of the globe Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement PASSAGES: AN AFRICAN EXPERIENCE OF THE KIASPORA, by EDWARD BRUCE BYNUM Poem Source First Line: Where the skull leans eastward Last Line: The coconut, open its milk, the skull is %discarded, the salt digests Subject(s): Africa; Travel PITY FOR POOR AFRICANS, by WILLIAM COWPER Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I own I am shocked at the purchase of slaves Last Line: He shared in the plunder, but pitied the man. Subject(s): Africa; Slavery; Serfs PLACE OF DREAMS, by MAZISI KUNENE Poem Source First Line: There is a place %where the dream is dreaming us Last Line: Someone, somewhere, is dreaming us, in the ruins Subject(s): South Africa PLAINS, by ROY FULLER Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The only blossoms of the plains are black Last Line: The animals gallop, spring, are beautiful, %and at the end of every day is night Subject(s): Africa POEM, by ES'KIA MPHAHLELE Poem Source First Line: What is there that we can do or say Last Line: Do pain will bleed and let the islands in Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement POEM FOR SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN, by JUNE JORDAN Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Our own shadows disappear at the feet of thousands Subject(s): Mothers & Daughters; South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement; Women POEM FOR SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN, by JUNE JORDAN Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Our own shadows disappear at the feet of thousands Last Line: We are the ones we have been waiting for Subject(s): Mothers And Daughters; South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement; Women POEM OF VENGEANCE, by UNKNOWN+286 Poem Source First Line: Min, %big strong smiling mini Last Line: As the precious gasps %escape into the pretoria air Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement POEMS ABOUT PRISON, SELS., by DENNIS BRUTUS Poet Analysis Poet's Biography Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John Subject(s): Prisons And Prisoners; South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement POET AND GUERILLA, by DAVID+(2) EVANS Poem Source First Line: In amsterdam the exiles meet Last Line: Waits for the bullets and the song Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement POET'S DEATH IN OXFORD, by DAVID+(2) EVANS Poem Source First Line: Die skolly boy digter is dood Last Line: And you lie forever at the tip of the root Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement POLITICAL PRISONER, by MAZISI KUNENE Poem Source First Line: I desired to talk Last Line: Priding herself only in the shadows of yesterdays Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement PORTRAIT OF AN ASIAN AS AN EAST AFRICAN, by JAGIT SINGH Poem Source First Line: The past has boiled itself over Last Line: And wash away the sins of history Subject(s): East Africa - Asian Population POT, by PARVIN SYAL Poem Source First Line: I should not have been here Last Line: For I am alien Subject(s): East Africa - Asian Population POWERED TYPHOONS UNWIND SLOWLY, by UNKNOWN+289 Poem Source First Line: Leaving a day stunned with sun Last Line: First a bite at white battalions %then on to breach the dam wall door Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement PURE WHITE, ONLY WHITE, by UNKNOWN+289 Poem Source First Line: Immigrant workers at capetown's door Last Line: Are grey faced or green Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement QUESTION TO OPPOSITION LEADERS, by MICERE GITHAE MUGO Poem Source First Line: How could you? Last Line: In the collective name %of our struggling millions: %will you? Subject(s): Africa - Neocolonialism QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS, by ARTHUR NORTJE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: The underbelly of the shark Last Line: Uncouth will be the interrogations and bloodly the reprisals Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement RED OUR COLOUR, by UNKNOWN+286 Poem Source First Line: Let's have poems %blood-red in colour Last Line: Eats the decade Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement REMEMBER ME, by VICTOR MOTAPANYANE Poem Source Last Line: Draw me closer to the dawn of freedom Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement RISE OF THE ANGRY GENERATION, by MAZISI KUNENE Poem Source First Line: The great eagle lifts it wings from the dream Last Line: They are the abiding anger of the ancestral fathers Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement ROADGANG'S CRY, by MBUYISENI OSWALD JOSEPH MTSHALI Poem Source First Line: Pneumatic drills %roar like guns in a battle field Last Line: Abelungu ngo'dam - whites are damned %basibiza ngo jim - they call is jim Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement ROUTINE OF A LETTER WRITER, by JESSICA GRANT Poem Source First Line: I measure breakfast in a tin cup Last Line: She just woke up that way, screaming Subject(s): Africa; Writing And Writers SACRIFICE, by UNKNOWN+287 Poem Source First Line: We need money %to buy our birth Last Line: Like cheap pants %in the wind Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement SERVICE, by JOHN PEPPER CLARK Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: A dime %in the slot Last Line: And who knows at what price? Alternate Author Name(s): Clark-bekederemo, J. P.; Clark, J. P. Subject(s): Africa; Money; Plantation Life; Service; Smoking SHARPEVILLE, by UNKNOWN+287 Poem Source First Line: Sharp-evilled are these lanky seasons Last Line: A rest from our own fears Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement SIRENS, KNUCKLES, BOOTS, by DENNIS BRUTUS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The sounds begin anew Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John Subject(s): Police States; South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement SISTERS IN ARMS, by AUDRE LORDE Poem Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The edge of our bed was a wide grid Alternate Author Name(s): Adisa-warrior, Gamba Subject(s): Gays & Lesbians; Death - Children; South Africa; Racism; Homoeroticism; Lesbians; Gay Women; Gay Men; Death - Babies; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry SKIN SHIELD OUR PRIDE, by UNKNOWN+288 Poem Source First Line: We, in umkhonto we sizwe Last Line: To touch fingers with soviet workers Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement SLAVE MAN, by ZINJIVA NKONDO Poem Source First Line: The man slave %the shout of silence the rhythm of the hammer Last Line: Well wait for the partisanship %of dilettantes Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement SLAVE TROT, by ZINJIVA NKONDO Poem Source First Line: Trotting on the broken step Last Line: If there is a shrug of a shoulder %who shall fail Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement SOLDIER AT WAR, by REBECCA MATLOU Poem Source First Line: A soldier alone in reality I live Last Line: We are the children of the spear Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement SOLOMON MAHLANGU ADDRESSES HIS GAOLERS, by REBECCA MATLOU Poem Source First Line: Don't be puzzled that I smile Last Line: I touch this darkness and give %meaning Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement SONG (WE SING), by COSMO PIETERSE Poem Source First Line: We sing our sons who have died red Last Line: And the birth from the dust that is green we sing Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement SONG FOR ILVA MACKAY AND MONGANE, by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE Poet's Biography First Line: Hear now a sound of floods Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement SONG FOR ILVA MACKAY AND MONGANE, by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: Hear now a sound of floods Last Line: We shall know each other by our bloodstains Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement SOUTH AFRICA SALUTES UZBEKISTAN, by KEORAPETSE KGOSITSILE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: We shall dream yes Last Line: This fruit this love. %mayibuye! Alternate Author Name(s): Kgositsile, Keropatse Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNION, by AFAA MICHAEL WEAVER Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: It is not difficult to feel compassion Last Line: Against the impregnable shadows of the moon over %the hatred Alternate Author Name(s): Weaver, Michael S. Subject(s): Compassion; South Africa SPEARS AND PLOUGHS!, by LINDIWE MABUZA Poem Source First Line: We once asked steel Last Line: Man's real friend Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement SPIDER, by SYLVIA PLATH Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Anansi, black busybody of the folktales Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Ted, Mrs. Subject(s): Africa; Fables; Insects; Spiders; Allegories; Bugs SPIDER, by SYLVIA PLATH Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Anansi, black busybody of the folktales Last Line: Ex machina. Nor did they seem deterred by this Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Ted, Mrs. Subject(s): Africa; Fables; Insects; Spiders SPIRIT OF BAMBATHA, by UNKNOWN+286 Poem Source First Line: We will meet Last Line: When the nation is free Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement STANDING ARMED ON OUR OWN GROUND, by BARRY FEINBERG Poem Source First Line: Remember the agony years Last Line: And cost the sacred path %from casualty to liberty Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement STATUE TREATMENT, by BARRY FEINBERG Poem Source Last Line: The hate is held %an idea with fury kept Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement STILL THE SIRENS, by DENNIS BRUTUS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography Last Line: Someday there will be peace %someday the sirens will be still %someday we will be free Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John Subject(s): Africa - Neocolonialism STORM WITHIN, by REBECCA MATLOU Poem Source First Line: The storm within you mother Last Line: With the swoop of your backside Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement STUDIOUS HIGH-SCHOOL BOY HE LOOKED, by DENNIS BRUTUS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography Last Line: In a maniac world he was safe Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John Subject(s): Prisons And Prisoners; South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement SUNSHINE LAND, by FRANCIS CAREY SLATER Poem Source First Line: Blue skies burning above Subject(s): Africa SURPRISINGLY SINGING, by BARRY FEINBERG Poem Source First Line: While whites %on sabbath greens Last Line: Surprisingly %singing Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement SWEET MEAT HAS SOUR SAUCE; OR, THE SLAVE-TRADER IN THE DUMPS, by WILLIAM COWPER Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A trader I am to the african shore Last Line: Which nobody can deny. Subject(s): Africa; African Americans; Slavery; Trade; Negroes; American Blacks; Serfs SWORD EULOGIZING ITSELF AFTER A MASSACRE, by MAZISI KUNENE Poem Source First Line: By the skills of broken men I was moulded Last Line: The shadows of the dead haunted them %tearing their minds t o the voices of the innocent Subject(s): South Africa TEN TARGETS REEL UNDER RAGE OF VISION, by BARRY FEINBERG Poem Source First Line: After years of bruising loads Last Line: His eyes blaze down dead-still barrel, %ten targets reel under rage of vision Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement TENDING HATE, by UNKNOWN+288 Poem Source First Line: Look at me Last Line: And the child-soldiers are not avenged Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement THE AFRICAN PRINCE, by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It was a king in africa Last Line: One hope within his heart. Alternate Author Name(s): L. E. L.; Maclean, Letitia Subject(s): Africa; Courts & Courtiers; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens THE CONTINENTS, by BAYARD TAYLOR Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: I had a vision in that solemn hour Last Line: "claim empire for the free!" Alternate Author Name(s): Taylor, James Bayard Subject(s): Africa; Past; Prophecy & Prophets; Time THE FOUR ZOAS: THE SONG OF LOS, by WILLIAM BLAKE Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I will sing you a song of los, the eternal prophet Last Line: Urizen wept. Subject(s): Africa; Asia; Bible; Mythology; Far East; East Asia; Orient THE GREEN HILLS OF AFRICA, by ROY FULLER Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The green, humped, wrinkled hills: with such a look Subject(s): Africa THE MORNING DREAM (1), by WILLIAM COWPER Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Forced from home, and all its pleasures Last Line: Ere you proudly question ours! Variant Title(s): Slave's Complaint;the Negro's Complaint Subject(s): Africa; Blacks; Slavery; Serfs THE NEAR-JOHANNESBURG BOY, by GWENDOLYN BROOKS Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: My way is from woe to wonder Subject(s): South Africa THE PLAINS, by ROY FULLER Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The only blossoms of the plains are black Subject(s): Africa THE QUEST FOR THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, by ALBERT GOLDBARTH Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: They needed to know. They came, they suffered Subject(s): Nile (river); Speke, John Hanning (1827-1864); Pain; Africa; Suffering; Misery THE SCORPION, by WILLIAM PLOMER Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Limpopo and tugela churned Last Line: A scorpion on a stone. Subject(s): Africa THE SHORE OF AFRICA, by FRANCESCO MARIA DE CONTI Poem Text First Line: Pilgrim! Whose steps those desert sands Last Line: And bathe with tears the grave of liberty. Subject(s): Africa THE SONG OF THE CITIES, by RUDYARD KIPLING Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Royal and dower-royal, I the queen Last Line: To seek the happy isles! Subject(s): Auckland, New Zealand; Bombay, India; Brisbane, Australia; Calcutta, India; Cape Town, South Africa; Cities; Halifax, Canada; Hobart, Tasmania; Hong-kong; Madras, India; Melbourne, Australia; Montreal, Canada; Quebec, Canada; Rangoon, Myanmar (burma); Si THE SUGAR-CANE: ADVICE TO SLAVE-OWNERS, by JAMES GRAINGER Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: Must thou from afric reinforce thy gang? Last Line: From each some blood, as age and sex require. Subject(s): Africa; Disease; Slavery; Strength; Serfs THE TRAVELLER AT THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: In sunset's light, o'er afric thrown Last Line: Thine own sweet paths in search of thee! Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea Subject(s): Africa; African Americans - History; Nile (river); Travel; Black Heritage; Journeys; Trips THE WOMEN OF DAN DANCE WITH SWORDS IN THEIR HANDS ..., by AUDRE LORDE Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I did not fall from the sky Alternate Author Name(s): Adisa-warrior, Gamba Subject(s): Africa; Women THERE IS A PIG, by UNKNOWN+287 Poem Source Last Line: Where no fish enjoys a bath Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement THERE WAS A GIRL, by DENNIS BRUTUS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography Last Line: A girl in a print dress, once, they say Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement THEY CLAPPED, by YOLANDE CORNELIA GIOVANNI Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: They clapped when we landed Last Line: Dream they saw a free future Alternate Author Name(s): Giovanni, Nikki Subject(s): Africa; African Americans; Negroes; American Blacks THING OF BEAUTY, by DEBORAH GORLIN Poem Source First Line: For their annual beauty contest, the woodabe men of africa Last Line: By which they feel at once their own fast substances, their inborn masks Subject(s): Africa; Beauty THIS DAY, by MAZISI KUNENE Poem Source First Line: Like any other day I came home Last Line: Sang the hymn, our hymn, the song of liberty Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement THIS IS JOHNNY, by UNKNOWN+289 Poem Source First Line: Of an amber hue Last Line: From shifting sands, south, %three thousand miles Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement THIS PATH, by REBECCA MATLOU Poem Source First Line: Child of the soil Last Line: And bid the sod to seed freedom Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement THOUGHT ON JUNE 26, by MAZISI KUNENE Poem Source First Line: Was I wrong when I thought Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement TO A HUSBAND, by MAYA ANGELOU Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Your voice at times a fist Last Line: I sit at home and see it all / through you Subject(s): Africa; African Americans; Love - Marital; Negroes; American Blacks; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love TO A HUSBAND, by MAYA ANGELOU Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Your voice at times a fist Last Line: I sit home and see it all %through you Subject(s): Africa; African Americans; Love - Marital TO HAVE RESPITE - AFTER THE FIGHT, by UNKNOWN+288 Poem Source First Line: I wish someone kind can shout: 'coward' Last Line: To have respite Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement TO LORD DUNSANY (ON HIS RETURN FROM EAST AFRICA), by FRANCIS LEDWIDGE Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: For you I knit these lines, and on their ends Last Line: And where the weeds among the flowers do spring. Subject(s): Africa; Greetings; Plunkett, Edward [dunsany] (1878-1957) TO THE GENIUS OF AFRICA, by ROBERT SOUTHEY Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: O thou who from the mountain's height Last Line: There, genius, thou hast breathed the gales of death. Subject(s): Africa; Genius; Revolutions; Slavery; U.s. - Race Relations; Serfs TO THE MILLONS HUNGRY, by UNKNOWN+288 Poem Source Last Line: As the hawk the sky %thou the land Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement TO THOSE WHO PERSUADE US, by DENNIS BRUTUS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography Last Line: Our sincerity %in action Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement TO WHITE SOUTH AFRICA, by COSMO PIETERSE Poem Source First Line: If, when your walk around the cape's flat sands Last Line: You're blind to, ten miles from your eyes, stark misery Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement TODAY IN PRISON, by DENNIS BRUTUS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography Last Line: And those who will do the much %that still needs to be done Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement TOUCH, by HUGH LEWIN Poem Source First Line: When I get out Last Line: Here I am %please touch me Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement TOUSSAINT L'OVERTURE: HIS ANCESTRY, by GEORGE CLINTON ROWE Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: A tribe surnamed the arradas Last Line: And made his grave. Subject(s): Africa; Toussaint L'ouverture (1743-1803) TOWNSHIP TERROR, by UNKNOWN+287 Poem Source First Line: The nightly fear Last Line: Sad tears of marijuana %onto the earth Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement TRANSVAAL MORNING, by WILLIAM PLOMER Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A sudden waking when a saffron glare Subject(s): Morning; Transvaal, South Africa TRAVELING, by JAMES R. LEE Poem Source First Line: Thought I caught a comet's tail Last Line: Lifted me to the rift valley Subject(s): Africa; Poetry And Poets; Travel TRIBUTE FOR STEVE BIKO, by DENNIS BRUTUS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The dusty roads Last Line: Even if they robbed him of his life Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John Subject(s): Biko, Steve (1946-1977); South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement TWO FRESCOES, by FORD MADOX FORD Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: Down there where europe's arms Last Line: Rose over africa. Alternate Author Name(s): Hueffer, Ford Hermann; Hueffer, Ford Madox Subject(s): Africa; Art & Artists; Courts & Courtiers; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens TWO LESSONS FROM THE SKY: 1. AFRICA, by DAVID CITINO Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: Sometimes I think too much about the devolution of Last Line: Those sad eyes that look down on a minuscule, %blurred world Subject(s): Africa; Sickness UNFINISHED ADVENTURE', by MAZISI KUNENE Poem Source First Line: Not by the same route, our return Last Line: Certain, by such magic our triumph is assured Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement VENGEANCE, by MAZISI KUNENE Poem Source First Line: How would it be is I came in the night Last Line: Witnessing the explosions of our revenge Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement; Vengeance WAY IN AFRICA, by ARTHUR SHEARLY CRIPPS Poem Source First Line: I said, 'I'll go my road alone' Subject(s): Africa WE FOUND COMMON SONG, by BARRY FEINBERG Poem Source First Line: Testing solidarity %in tashkent Last Line: And our victories %soon to be celebrated! Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement WE WILL RISE AND BUILD A NATION; IN DEFIANCE OF NEOCOLONIAL DICTATORS, by MICERE GITHAE MUGO Poem Source First Line: At independence %we garlanded our leaders Last Line: Grafted with justice for all %enshrined with limitless hope Subject(s): Africa - Neocolonialism WEDDING, by HUGH LEWIN Poem Source First Line: Solly nathee %stood alone Last Line: Stood on the koppie overlooking his home %alone Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement WHAT'S IN THIS BLACK 'SHIT', by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: It is not the steaming little rot Last Line: That's what's in this black 'shit' Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement WHEAT EARS, by HEID E. ERDRICH Poem Source First Line: Driving into blue january cold, I take Last Line: Will close on my home town tonight Subject(s): Africa; Tourists; Travel WHEN GOLDA MEIR WAS IN AFRICA, by ALICE WALKER Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography Last Line: But, withal, opined golda, a people of charm %and good taste Subject(s): Africa; Meir, Golda (1898-1978) WHEN LIGHTS GO OUT (FOR SOME WHO ARE IN SOUTH AFRICAN JAILS), by MONGANE WALLY SEROTE Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: It is with the shadows of night Last Line: Can you hear the footsteps Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement WHERE NO SEED BORE FRUIT BEFORE, by BARRY FEINBERG Poem Source First Line: In an authorized ghetto Last Line: And seeds take root %where no seed bore fruit before Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement WOMEN OF DAN DANCE WITH SWORDS IN THEIR HANDS ..., by AUDRE LORDE Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I did not fall from the sky Last Line: What is already dead Alternate Author Name(s): Adisa-warrior, Gamba Subject(s): Africa; Women WOMEN'S DAY SONG, by UNKNOWN+289 Poem Source First Line: Celebrate our women in campaigns Last Line: To celebrate freedom %and to honour women's day Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement; Women WORKING, by UNKNOWN+288 Poem Source First Line: Working %to drink full Last Line: To know %dignity Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement WORLD AND SOUL, by GEORGE MACDONALD Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: This infant world has taken long to make Last Line: Unfold a world, that I, thy child, might see. Subject(s): Africa YOU NORTHAMERICAN POETS, by SARAH MENEFEE Poem Source Last Line: Your government grant your shattered linguistics %in the glare of soweto and sharpeville Subject(s): Politics; South Africa YOUNG HEROES - I, by GWENDOLYN BROOKS Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: He is very busy with his looking Subject(s): South Africa - Anti-apartheid Movement |
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