Land of thousand hills stand as the Pole star
Nourishing her people with kings’ wine – nectar
Flora and fauna savours Lake Kivu’s splendor
When Rwanda breathes, Africa smells splendor
With rich volcano soil that burgeons life
With alluring climate that has murdered strife.
In the midst of storm, Rwanda stood tall
And sugared their hearts against cruel gall
Clean breeze in the land has dealt with death
Industrious fingers have chased away dearth,
As Kigali stands in azure amassing for posterity
She should pursue this growth with integrity.
Africa’s creative minds to Kigali flow
To return with pens and papers that glow
As eagles, African writers shall soar
To poetise figures of speech that shall roar
Let Rwanda as Pole star on Africa shine;
Writers will come back drunk with creative wine.
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Bismark Kiyo Kimbi was born in Binshua in the North West Region of Cameroon. After successfully sailing through primary and secondary education, he enrolled in the University of Yaoundé 1 where he obtained a Master’s Degree in British Literature. He is a passionate and emerging writer whose poems have been published in national and international journals. He has submitted poems to some anthologies for publication and has won first prize in the Accredited Students of the English Department (ASED) Creative Writing Contest of 2021 with the poem titled “Grow Tall Amidst Thorns”. He has taught English Language and Literature in English in a couple of secondary and high schools in Yaoundé where he is based. He has also served as a tutor of British Literature at the University of Yaoundé 1. He is currently an IELTS instructor at the British Teaching Centre, Yaoundé.
As a committed educator, Kimbi has organised and spoken in several webinars on social and economic topics such as the laws of growth, entrepreneurship and the necessity for financial freedom. In his writing, he explores socio-economic and political contemporary themes. He has a couple of written works pending publication. He is a community leader who has served in several functions in the Binshua Development Association (BIDA), his village developmental association in which he is currently a member of the education committee and equally serves as a Social Organisation Secretary.
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This Poem was published in the May 2024 edition of the WSA magazine. Please click here to download.
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