The following two poems i have written describe a reality far removed from where i live but the truth nonetheless.
The first poem "Africa Abhorred" was inspired by the human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and also helped in no small measure by great movies like Hotel Rwanda,Blood Diamond and The last king of Scotland.....
The second poem "Blackie!" is a testimonial of how life is for a black man,but this poem is the one nearest to my heart because it was inspired or rather resulted from me being coloured myself and how i'm reminded of my colour nearly every day not by some white man but by the people of my own country.
Africa Abhorred
I wake up to gunfire everyday.
Civil war rages this unfortunate country.
We do have moments of peace,preceeded and succeeded
By a lifetime of war and death.
Where are my rights? Where are my liberties?
Where is democracy and where are it's promises?
How foolish these questions seem on this land
Where the cost of a life is often less than that of a bullet.
Africa is poisoned......
Poisoned with greed,poisoned with power,
Poisoned with hunger, poisoned with cruelty.
Africa stands a helpless witness to poisoned humanity.
Africa is blessed with riches,
Ivory,Gold and Diamonds too.
But it adorns an European mistress with a trinket,
And arms an African boy with a gun.
Before you mistake me for an African
I am just a black voice on a white tongue.
For nobody here or elsewhere believes in my education.
Articulation of my life is the privilege of the white.
The world watches as Africa burns
In the flames of it's own creation.
As ashes spread far and wide,
They still find more of Africa to burn.
Who is going to Heaven in this country?
"Nobody" ,for we'll kill each other before we get there.
Before you think I will be killed for this blasphemy,
Tell me how do you kill a man,already dead!
Raghuraj S. Hegde
Blackie
'Blackie!' calls out a voice so clear.
Black is my colour,Black is the day.
This colour annoints my colourless life.
But why am i still called a black today?
I hear governments call for equal rights,
I hear men chanting 'Blacks equal Whites',
I hear promises of equality well within sights,
I hear of times when will be bereft of fights.
Life is kinder to the fair skinned,
Not so much for the darker ones
Nature will carry this legacy on,
Extend it to my daughters and sons.
Times change,people change.
But I am still a victim of prejudice.
And I cannot ask any better,
For they have a white law and a black justice.
How long will I stand this tyranny?
How long before I decide to fight back?
Against man's wrath unto man himself,
Against a superiority of white over black.
Alas! A prism every society is,
Divides colours for it's own need,
And proclaims with shameless candour,
'Every colour is part of a white indeed!'
Whatever I may do,
A fault,they will surely find.
Wherever I may live,
The world is still not colour blind.
Raghuraj S. Hegde
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