[Yaa]

Ghanafo


I still wear the scars
This, underlying layer of despair embedded in my psyche,
inherited from history's pages
Pungent like that fear
Echoing, seeping still, from the crevices of Elmina
These scars
I wear them proud, raising thick from flesh like
militant fists
outstretched and screaming for change
Because this is what I come from
This intrinsic strength that sprouted me from the seed,
molded me from rib,
marches to liberation songs through veins and
weaves into this life I now breathe
I am Ghana,
Encased in the ancestors' footprints
I am Ghana
Fortress of beauty
Hwe
See how the hips move in syncopation with the Fufu pounder
and swagger thunders like the Dun Dun
Soul has built its village in me
I am Ghana
See how this bounty of language resides in me
swells and spills from lips as if the mouth
cannot contain it,
genuflecting from tongue and smiling on taste buds
because it sounds that good
Ey
I am Ghana
I wake with sun kneading its rays into skin
marinating me into the sweet concoction of blackness
I am an umber rainbow of melanin
I am Ghana
Red, for the blood that was shed
Gold, for the richness in our land
Green, for the fertility of this earth
Blackstar is our freedom birthrite,
the spine of our nation
Together, read between the folds of our past
Learn and teach
Fill our children's bellies with that fight for tomorrow
and the next
Because we are not done yet
Our hunger has not been sated
I am Ghana
Descendant on a quest for constant progress
Say it, till they are deafened by our roar
Till they feel it, understand it, and without saying
it shows
I am Ghana
Forward Ever, Backward Never
Ey
Ghanafo!