Where is it, where is my heritage?
Mother, can you hear me scream?!
Our rich culture and powerful tradition.
Passed down from generation to generation.
The voices of our ancestors heard no more.
Their screams, as loud as our modernity.
People, can you hear them?
They are reaching out, trying to pass a legacy.
A child is born into a cultural setting,
But how does he grow to know his culture?
He cried for folktales and music, he was given nursery rhymes and tales.
Can he then ask, ‘Mother, where is my birthright?’
Mother, can you really not hear me scream?
Our customs, beliefs and tradition, all lost in the ocean of modernity.
We swim against the current of our heritage.
Trying to get to the land of liberty; were we ever in bondage?
Our rich culture and powerful tradition. Our history!
Do you remember by the fireside.
When those endowed with powerful knowledge,
Passed on morals, wisdom, culture and history under the star’s light.
Mother, oh mother Ghana! What will we do?
What will we tell our founders when we meet them?
How will we answer when asked, ‘Have you passed on the tradition of the land?’
The truth; can we tell them? Can they bear it?
This poem was published in the 8th Issue of PoeticAfrica magazine.
Please click here to download.
Read – Maslekwane Oral Tradition – Bongani Zungu (South Africa)
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