Remember, 1994, the year of the butcher bird
With numerous irons, disjointed from their ores
Were forged in bottomless pit of anvils.
Tensed, stale wind of discord
Swivelled between the Tutsi and Hutu,
Left blood-stained scars on churches pews.
It came first like a billow of smoke
Then fanned at its bottomless pit, with black raffia palms
Until the flames turned into wild fire.
Those hyenas who seared the flames;
Who bridled the knot of the cords
Sat on trees with golden chalices of wine.
They gazed as our rivers turned to blood,
Our monument of white morsel to graves
As the vultures glutted on their carrions.
Today, their spirits still roam the mountains
Their fleshy blood still littered
On memories of bullets.
Their voices still echo on the rivers and oceans
On the North, South, East, West and Kigali provinces
Crying for the doves’ feathers.
Rwanda, beware soul brothers
Yesterday storm blew off our thatched roofs
But it’s time to rebuild, a home of our own.
—
Joseph Marcel, Ikhenoba is a Biochemist by profession and a passionate writer. He has published several poems, articles and stories which have been published in Amazon, Poetry South, Short story.net, Poem Hunters, Core Humanity Commons and Academia.edu, Writers Space Africa, Goodreads, Afri-Library and Kinsman Quarterly. He is a semi-finalist for the Black Diaspora Award, shortlisted for the Natives Award, and longlisted for Iridescence and Dr. Paul Kalanithi writing awards in 2024. He likes sports, writing and scientific research.
—
This Poem was published in the May 2024 edition of the WSA magazine. Please click here to download.
Read – Nature’s Rolling Beauty – A Poem by Comfort N.A. Okyere – Ghana
