By Tiro Makhudu
With warm hands and an open mind I welcomed you into my home
As you stretched out your hand
To beat my child, rape my wife
And take my dignity
But one day I will stand on your mountain.
With cowardice becoming warrior-spirited,
I stepped in line,
Took the lashing
And allowed you the benefit of my shelter
While I slept with the swine
But one day I will stand on your mountain.
With a fierce anger,
A burning sensation
Silenced by a cold ache in the pit of my stomach
As my sons fell dead at your feet
I took your religion to allow myself to forgive
Just so my heart wouldn’t bleed
But one day I will stand on your mountain.
With a chain around my neck,
Shackles at my bruising feet
I abandoned my father’s teachings
To dance to your beat
And be more like you but never quite you
But one day I will stand on your mountain.
With a humane tolerance,
A gracious soul and a strong back
I built your cities
While you took the credit and gutted my land
And when I asked why you plunder
You called it slander and put me below your whip
But one day I will stand on your mountain.
With a broken heart,
An empty belly
and a cry to my now forgotten gods
I mounted the wagon
As I left my land to meet my fate in the wastelands
so you may enjoy lemonade beneath my mango tree
But one day I will stand on your mountain.
With the benefit of your hate,
The disadvantage of your privilege
And a scarred mind body and soul
I forgave your transgressions
So you could keep my home
While still I lay with the swine
But one day I will stand on your mountain.
With a bible in hand,
A dry tongue and the pain and humiliation
I watched your repulsion as if I were diseased
When all I suffer from is a result of your existence
But never you mind,
One day I will stand on your mountain.
With a renewed spirit,
A knowledge of your cruelty
and the print of your boot forever etched on my neck
I swore to rise
and believe me,
One day I will stand on your mountain.
With pride restored,
A model-c accent
And your so-called education
I watched you laugh
As I replaced my tears with determination
and dare I remind you again,
One day I will stand on your mountain.
With this I give you a declaration,
A fair warning and not a presentation…
you are standing on my mountain
And while my mind is still open,
My hands are no longer warm,
My back is broken
It is time you vacated my mountain
And remember
As you watch me ascend from the trenches
To which you condemned me
That I sought no provocation only reparation
when I told you that
One day I will stand on your mountain!!
By Tiro Makhudu
Tiro Makhudu is an aspiring writer who has written for several local television productions and a voice screaming the narrative that needs to be heard with no one willing it to tell it. With an unapologetic, no nonsense approach, Tiro holds no punches and purports to wake the spirit of his fellow man with the belief that that woke spirit will translate into a sharp and pro-African weapon of a mind that will deliver the African from his mind, body and soul penitentiary. An Africanist through and through and all round social commentator, Tiroseeks to plant his tiny seedlings in the landscape of the discourse that will one day give rise to the brightest Africa that the winds of change and hands of time will allow.
