Africa

"Remember Africa!" The soil, the land. © Brian Rolfe 2010. Inspired by a photo of acclaimed photographer Tertius Meintjies. Poem by David Diop. David Diop was born in Bordeaux, France, in 1927, to a Cameroonean mother and a Sengalese father. Africa my Africa Africa of proud warriors in ancestral savannahs Africa of whom my grandmother sings On the banks of the distant river I have never known you But your blood flows in my veins Your beautiful black blood that irrigates the fields The blood of your sweat The sweat of your work The work of your slavery Africa, tell me Africa Is this your back that is unbent This back that never breaks under the weight of humiliation This back trembling with red scars And saying no