Kenya Our Motherland
1967 CE • Kenya
"Beneath these mortal feet
is motherland,
Our Kenya Motherland
Freed in tears and blood,
The hump of Africa
Soaring skyways amid the clouds
[. . .]
Beneath thy heavenw'd heights
Tumble down the depths
That mark the Great Crack,
The scar of God's great axe
That split the rocks by force
Igniting fire beneath volcanic hills.
Oh Kenya Motherland,
Where flamingoes roost on sanctuary lakes,
And lions sunks in deep, deep slumber
Awake to the tune of hooting cars;
From whose eastern shores
Ever pounding waves scrub thy rocky ribs;
In whose northern desert land
Sand dunes roll over eternal silence . . ."
John Mbiti, "Kenya Our Motherland," 1967, in Africa Is Thunder and Wonder: Contemporary Voices from African Literature, edited by Barbara Nolen (New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1972), 8.
Image: Ninara via Flickr, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
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