This is a poem written in tribute to Nelson Mandela by Chidera Nnaeto. I got engrossed into the poem and this is truly a creative work, won't say much about it but leave you all to read and comment on it.
Find the poem Below...
From the scorching streets of Mvezo,
Carved from the village of Transkei;
A warrior was conceived.
One whose path, none could dare have it deceased, not even his tender age
Nor by an arranged marriage.
At Youth, The End began,
He arose, as Lazarus did come.
Sailed a titanic plot for
the ANC to entrench
Within it; terror against apartheid,
To keenly strangle the racist tide
and trample upon the opposition.
As though it were red carpets.
From his souls womb, the non-violent defiance campaign did blossom as the hibiscus which Chimamanda Adiche did profess.
For the oppression of his people,
He despised, just enough to make him cripple.
Unto the rigour of this cause,
Sharpeville massacre evolved
As blood shed made a ford.
Then arrived the inevitable;
Serving Seasons of incarceration
sentenced for Sabotage
Imprisoned at Pollsmoor,
Then Robben Island for a life time sentence, within cell 46664
For even in sickness, he was guarded at the warders’ abode
Surely he got Acquainted with such tours of confinement
conversing with series of prison walls,
That haunting daunting trauma from dining with darkness
Speaking to ghosts of his dream for South Africa.
All For a number of years that if added
Amounted to twenty years and seven more-
Just in-case , he could deter.
Yet enough to make a mortal deter.
But freedom from the colonials he dearly sought
He did write scores of letters to Evelyn Ntoko Mase and comrades
which were Obviously edited by the wards.
Yet four walls, could cage him not.
Still he did Instigate an entire nation to seize their freedom,
From the glittering fist of slavery
Along with its fiance; exploitation.
And so they did;
” Free Mandela” was gazetted on streets
And Embroided on placards.
The Oratory prowess, zeal and determination of one man,
fueled them on;
This war with no sword lived for length of Years
This and a countless many more finally tore the persistence of the colonials,
For his patience and torment he bore,
Just for this cause exhausted their wits.
Summoning the eyes of the World
To gaze upon the terror in which
In dusk and dawn they dined with…
But at times End,
The medal of Freedom was conceived
For both him and his warders.
Alas, the First democratically Elected unopposed president in the first session of the new National Assembly, he became.
An icon as well,
A hero also,
And at ninety five, ninety five thousand
Persons wept at the stadium
To bid Madiba farewell,
One whose exit invoked snow flakes
To drizzle in Egypt at exactly the thirteenth December, during the two thousand and thirteen years
After the fifth Day of his demise,
that which had never been for a hundred years
For life gave him his ultimate freedom
Tears shed did make a storm.
A mentor as at now is he,
This and this alone,
And this stands alone,
As the greatest of all lessons mankind ever thought, which he did leave behind
For I, one, and many more
That nothing beneath the sun is impossible..
I hold on to this as a cuddle.
Adieu Mandela….
Even in the midst of deserts,
thy candle light burns for eternity.
By Chidera Nnaeto Esq.
