Three Poems
Kofi Anyidoho
A Memorial for KAMAU BRATHWAITE
An Africa – Africa Diaspora Dialogue
[Bridgetown, Barbados. May 14, 2022]
PanAfrican AirWays our DreamAirline:
Five Hours Direct Accra-BridgeTown
to Sao Paulo and San Salvador Brazil
or StopOvers to Sister CaribIslands
to Havana in Armpit of the BuffaloBull
But
Devious Logic of Geography
made Furious by Storms
of Crooked Colonial History
put me back on BritishAirways
took me up up North
to Proud Imperial London
then down down South
across Unending Moaning Waves
to your Coral Island Home in CaribSeas
Wishing and Hoping Somehow to Find
your long arms stretched out in Warm Embrace.
I have Lingered So Long to Redeem
a Promise of Coming Home to Bajan
in the Midst of History’s Hurricanes.
Kamau SoulBrother-Mentor Pathfinder
You who Walked Tall in HowlingStorms
Ancestral as a god sent by Odomankoma
to Re-Humanize our World with WORDS
with Unfolding Imagination Fueled
by Unfailing AncestralMemory.
You who once asked for Words
to Guide our Feet on Slippery Slopes
in a Wounded World of So Much Hurt.
From The Hilton Barbados Resort
through Bridgetown’s Somber
Streets with no Billboards
to Surrounding Open Fields
Green with Hints of a Paradise
Lost to Nostalgia & Endless Longing
Our Brother David Comissiong
Drove with Steady Thoughtful Care
to your Final Place of Rest
from a Long & Immensely Fruitful Life.
Below your Familiar Sacred Name
Your Date of Birth of Death
Your Beloved Grieving Beverly
Immortalized You with Words of Love Eternal:
DEATH LEAVES A HEARTACHE NO ONE CAN HEAL
LOVE LEAVES A MEMORY NO ONE CAN STEAL.
I stood behind your modest Granite HeadStone
Head Bowed Eyes Gently Closed
Listened with a Pain and a Joy in my Heart
As David Brought Back to Life
Those Haunting Lines from Negus
Your Quintessential Poem of Hope
I
must be given words to shape my name
to the syllables of trees
I
must be given words to refashion futures
like a healer’s hands…
Kamau PathFinder & ForeRunner
You who Reclaimed our Past
from Tombs of Lost Histories
You who Revived our Present
from Wombs of DreamStories
You who Planted your Left Foot
Firm in Bajan’s Coral Stone
Rooted your Right Foot
Deep in Africa’s Tellurian Soil
Arms Shaped Wide and Firm to Brace
StormTime across The Middle Passage.
Kamau Kamau Kamau
You Bridged our Fractured Souls
with the Healer’s Soothing Words
You Healed our Fumbling Futures
in Countless BreathingSoundings
of your Voice your Word your Song
You Gave us Back our Lost Compass
to New Fiestas of Our SoulsHarvest.
Armed with the Urgent Clarity
of Your Mission Your Vision
I return
I return now
from your HomeLand in Bajan
to your HeartLand in Ghana
I Carry Back to Our Ancestors
The Love and Memory
of One of their Great Beloved Sons
Snatched Away by ThunderStorms
Brought Back Home by Hurricanes
Returned to Bajan Riding Atlantic’s
Waves & HarmattanDust WesterlyWinds
Weaving Calypsos into Dance&Words
That Tame the Rage in the Heart
of ThunderStorms and Hurricanes
KAMAU BRATHWAITE Now For Ever at REST at PEACE in Gentle Arms of Asaase Yaa.
For Willie Keorapetse Kgositsile
Takyiwaa Manuh Akilagpa Sawyerr
Two Comrades from Your Exile Days in Dar
Shared the News of Your Farewell Call.
Willie Keorapetse Kgositsile
SongBird of Liberation Dreams
They Say you Caught the MidNight Freedom Train
at the Final Stop in SophiaTown
Homeward Bound. No More Stops Along the Way.
The Nation Stood Still
to Wave You Home in Solemn Gratitude
Memories of You So Long Ensnared in
Struggles Deeper than All Our Troubled Seas.
I Recall Our First Meeting
in Chicago’s Wailing Winter Winds
your One-Time Exile Home in Babylon
You took me in with an Embrace
Wider and Warmer than Old Friendships.
The Vista from Your Windows Was Amazing!
I Thought of Nat Nakasa and of Donny Hathaway.
I Shook my Head in Memorial Fear of Dizzy Heights.
You wondered how come I couldn’t put away
more than one small can of Budweiser.
I OverHeard you Whisper to YourSelf :
God Knows I’ve Taken This Watery Stuff
Enough to Last Through Three Life Times.
And Oh! How I Worried you Might
Never See Soweto Again in This Life Time.
Somehow You Survived.
You Survived Your Exile Years
Came Back Home to Old Comrades
You Thought You’d Never See Again.
Came Back Home to Lay Your Exile Tears
to Rest Among the Graves of Old Warriors
Share Your Dreams of LiberationTime
with a Generation Too Young to Know
the Taste of Blood from Bitter Battle Days
Bitter Bleeding Battles Fought So Long
Over a Nation Torn Apart Between
HerSelf and TheColours of HerSkin.
Oh! Willie Keorapetse Kgositsile
Old SongBird of Liberation Dreams
May Cross-Rhythms of Jazz&Blues
Ride You Slow & Ride You Gently Home
to RainBows in Celestial Splendour Hues
Standing Guard for You at HeavensGate.
A Song for Nyidevu
for Afetsi, who survived to Tell
They say the Panther Died in his Sleep
But not without a Leap.
The Hippo Drowned in a Pool of Blood
But with a Gentle Smile on his Face.
So you took Death by the Hand
Brought Him Home
to a Harvest of Ancestral Songs.
You took down his Battle Dress
gave him a Gown of Flames
wrapped in Laughter’s Tender Care
You removed the Thunder from His Voice
the Lightning from His Eyes.
You Placed a RainBow on His Face.
You Explained to Death
How and Why He must be Brave
Turn His Back upon the Grave
So the Children in their Sleep
May Dream the Future
Filled with Hope The Promise of Hope.