USA Africa Dialogue Series - For Winnie Mandela

SHE IS ETERNAL

Steeped in divinity, 

  she gives life like Ani.

Like twin dark emeralds,

  her pupils reflect historical memories.

Her swaggering hips,

  announce the confluence of the great rivers.

Her legs, like the bamboo,

  exude strength beyond comprehension.

When she smiles, 

  the sun sends rays to nurture.

When she cries, 

  the sky sends rains to nourish.

When she frowns,

  the clouds converge to warn.

She dances at ease with the thunder,

  and cooks enviably with lightening.

I watched her as queen on horse back,

  on the Savannas of Zaria.

I met her at Aba,

  telling Beke to choke on his taxes.

I saw her rescue men,

  at the underground railroads.

I witnessed Hannibal march on Rome

  Just for her kisses,

To defend her dignity,

  Okoro invented Ojukwu's bucket.

For courtship and her amusement,

  the Pharaohs built the pyramids.

I ran into her in Soweto,

  Fighting and holding the forth for Nelson.

Abeokuta was hers,

  after she challenged the tyranny of the Oba.

When some men cowered,

  She defied Abacha with TSM

I saw her shoot,

  from the thickets of Eriteria, and Namibia

I heard her summon the ancestors to war,

  the day Blood liberated Haiti.

I went to the Olympics at Atlanta,

  and saw where she landed on her leap from Mbaise.

I read her writings,

  before Nobel came calling in Princeton.

Armed with talk and courage

  She errected an empire in Chicago

I was there when, with her thirteenth birth,

  She delivered the albino.

I saw her laugh,

  as the albino called himself taking over.

She laughed because she knows,

  She is eternal.

(c) Ugorji O. Ugorji, 2013

--

Dr. Ugorji Okechukwu Ugorji
Executive Director
African Writers Endowment, Inc.
(609) 851-9484

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