They Moved Spirits To Tears

 They Moved Spirits to Tears

 

 A White master confiscated everything; anything,

Took away their skin,

Flogged; burnt; and lynched them,

Took away the drum,

So that they don’t rhyme,

Took away the book,

So that they don’t read,

Took away the spices,

So that they had no condiments,

Took away the tenderloin,

So that they fed on braised offal and smoked hooves,

Took away the shoes,

So that they walked bear-foot,

But they improvised,

For they had their hearts,

The many roomed mansions,

They had their hands,

They could clap,

They had their mouths

They could plead their cases,

They had their minds,

They could create melodies,

They turned nothingness,

To somethingness,

With their music,

With their dancing,

They moved the spirits to tears,

They walked all over the heavens.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Walking into the city series 1 by Thomas Rogers Muyunga Mukasa

I enjoy writing and when I do I feel so fulfilled. I started taking time to do serious creative writing when I volunteered to teach English to a school of 200 students in a rural district in Africa. I had to write stories about rural lifestyles with examples that my students would be familiar with. This got them excited. They felt they knew what was going on and the stories were from their own vicinity. We could not afford many text books. I had the only copy used to teach the English syllabus. I taught for four years and my school as well as the students were ranked among the the first five schools in that district.  Creative writing enables me to make my senses work for me. In these series we shall answer such questions like: what city? Contrasts of regions within the city, the events that I see, or get to hear, you will walk with me and get to hear the sounds that get to my ear. Or you will be a bystander taking in certain urban related events as they happen. I live 3 miles aw
Read more

Kitovu Hill

Right there on a hill, overlooking  Masaka , braced by the gracefully flowing  Nakayiba, coursing in feeder rivulets and creeks enriching the plains, out of which knowledge tends her sprouts, are the grounds on which missionaries, whom having themselves come to these areas from Europe, founded an education bastion, from which charisma has busted out in many directions, a  Pokino  led the drive, Lule  donated the land, it was an undertaking of trust and commitment, it is said by those from whom their eyes bore, the dawn of a rich heritage, bent backs their brows sweating, sinew, limb and bone in synchrony, as they tilled the vast plains, only motivated by the hope of harvest that we must be moved to engage, in our tasks with a confident flair, a dedicated bearing, an intense focus, unfettered consistence  and an undying desire to succeed, "Kyosimba Onaanya,"  they uttered, here ideas are planted and skills harvested, wate
Read more

Who is behind this blog?

Image
Thomas Rogers Muyunga Mukasa (pen name: Tom Mukasa), currently lives in San Francisco, CA. There he is attached to the UCSF HIV division's Community Advisory Board as a volunteer reviewer. He has worked for over 15 years with the marginalized and people living with HIV/Aids/TB in Africa. He also spent most of his time training and following up 152 groups he helped organize into what he termed the 'anti-poverty' class. The 'anti-poverty' class is that class a step or two shy of middle-class. Three greatest moments he recalls were a child headed family able to successfully pay for the land and house their late parents had left behind. They were to be evicted but it did not happen. The children went on to complete high school. The second moment was of a mother living with HIV establishing a chicken poultry farm 8 miles outside of Kampala, Uganda. She saw all her four children complete university. The third was of a woman in her late 20's who havin
Read more