African Names

afrika my dreamafrika my name!

where are you afrikan namesnames that banish cultural imperialism from mother afrikanames that rehabilitate the true afrikan identity -the afrikan names!

i don't want to answer to a non-afrikan name for in afrika's rich history and tradition lies my proud afrikan identity; trappedin the myth of forgotten willages; trappedin the mist of forgotten cities -the afrikan names!

ahoy afrikan name;afrikan and supreme!

the name that spells independence and heritagethe name that tells of struggling centuriesthe name that tells of ancestral valuesthe name that shines in the afrikan sunshine-the afrikan name!

i don't want to ask you children of new zimbabweyour first names; and don't force me to don't remind me the burden of foreign moral indoctrinationthat our hard-fought-for independence celebrates!

who tells me to call my son christopher columbusand forbids me to call that same son lobengula ka mzilikazi?who tells me to call my daughter queen elizabethand forbids me to call her nehanda nyakasikana?

come munhumutapathe spirit of the house of stonecome madzimbabwerestore the true spirit of afrikanness in us -today!

tell us not to answer to strange namesstrange names that call us awaystrange names that are white skulls; yeswhite skulls peeping upwards through six feet of dust'.

tell us that we are filial to afrikannesstell ut that before we answer to the spirit of afrikannessthat les us call ourselves by names of afrika, thatlet us call ourselves by names of zimbabwenames of homethe afrikan names!

afrikan names!in what corner of the earth, this earth are you hiding?afrikan names!for how long shall you remain wondering stars homes?

but now, the true spirit of old afrikayells for a new recognitionthe rock cannot fall upwardsneither can the fire burndownwards

if non-africanscannot have african namesafrikansshout not have non-afrikan names either!

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