I Cannot Break

I have a dream

To be

Never not to be

Me

Non-American

Non-Russian

Non-German

Non-Indian

Non-Australian

But me—an African

I have a dream

To see

Any African

Every African

Truly African

In the true sense

Not the non-sense

Of African

One that would take

No kickbacks from jackals

Nor anyone that would jack up the price

For monkeys that jump for shiny things

Are you surprised

That though I was made a bottle

I cannot break

            Whether by stone

            Or heat

            Or gas

            Or explosives

Though my ground is rock

I cannot break

By your pressure of words

I cannot break

By your shaky promises

I cannot break

By the weight of bundles of wood

I cannot break

No… let me not break

In my dream

I passed through the mighty seas

And sometimes died

And rose again

And my rising was punctuated

By kindly thoughts

            By unkind thinkers

Yet I rose again

In space of days

Or months

Or years

But I rose again

This meeting is about me

How I rose

            From long sleep

            From death to the times

How I walked past other corpses

Well dressed for the dance of buffoons

            Well positioned for the game of monopoly

Yet I walked past them

On the road to my resurrection

And from the top of the Bintumani

I could see the lion

That great inspirer of heroism

Calling my soul forth from the Atlantic

The soul that is determined

Not to be swallowed by the roaring sea anymore

Determined not to live on handouts anymore

Determined not to be the wretched of planet earth

But to rise and stand above the sky

Above the stars

Calling forth other sleepers

To rise and keep rising