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| 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 | Like a cotton tree withered before its bloom a touch of flame rudely hushed by the furious storm your small but bright flame O Lumumba perhaps you lie so low so cold smiling joyously for that flame the flame you willed to us perhaps you giggle innocently like you always did with thousand thoughts escorting each smile each giggle or perhaps you lie so crushed fossilised by the cold earth and your thoughts germinate sprout and shoot up in the lands of our Africa O Lumumba so selfless so innocent yet so guilty you spent your life in some unknown place brutalised mutilated like thousands of soldiers gone before life was hastily plucked out of you the lights put out where lies your grave now decorated by the trees you loved so well covered by the very sun that ushered in that day that fateful day that saw you fall never to rise again O Lumumba hear your brother shout your name you little light threatened by this great sun born of lowly parents born to bring us light to give us our right we hear the tom-toms of our drums we feel the rhythms of our marching soldiers we smell the sweat of our struggling brother we see mothers exhorting their brave sons to war they fear no death they can not die they can not die the struggle is one the time is here we can not wait we can not wait we can not wait we must not wait we must not wait your flame draws us onward to the fight. |
Khasu, Kona. “Dear Patrice Lumumba.” The Seeds of Time: A Collection of Poems. Mimeographed typescript. Monrovia, 1971. 6–8.
(A) Khasu, Kona. "Dear Patrice Lumumba." Black and African Writing: A Festac Anthology. Ed. Theo Vincent. Lagos: Center for Black and African Arts and Civilization National Theatre, 1981. 151–153.
| Line | Typescript | (A) | Adopted |
|
3 |
a touch of flame |
a touch of flame rudely hushed by the furious storm |
a touch of flame |
| 4 | rudely hushed by the furious storm | --- | rudely hushed by the furious storm |
| 33 | and like thousands of soldiers gone before | Like thousands of soldiers gone before | like thousands of soldiers gone before |
| 34 | life was gastily plucked out of you | life was hastily plucked out of you | life was hastily plucked out of you |
| 48 | to give us might | to give us our right | to give us our right |
| 49 | we hear the toms-toms of our drums | We hear the tom-toms of our drums | we hear the tom-toms of our drums |
|
64 65 |
we must not wait we must not wait |
--- --- |
we must not wait we must not wait |
