By Professor Timothy Wangusa | The AfricaPaper
Let the flags of all the nations
On whom the sun shines upon its way –
Fold and droop at half mast
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To salute Africa’s monumental son!
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From northerly Algeria to Azania,
From westerly Senegal to Somalia –
Let there be a hush across the sky
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To salute Africa’s monumental son!
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Waters of the Zambezi and the Limpopo,
Waters of the Nile, the Congo and the Niger –
Disrupt your everlasting rhythmic flow
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     To salute Africa’s monumental son!
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Peaks of Drakensburg Mountains and Kilimanjaro,
Of Rwenzori, Elgon, Kenya, and Atlas Mountains –Â
Dispel the glory of your crowns of clouds
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     To salute Africa’s monumental son!
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Sand-dunes and barchans of Sahara and Kalahari,
Thirsty harmattans and rain-sodden oceanic winds –  Â
Stop dead your furious and ceaseless advance
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To salute Africa’s monumental son!
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For him who was stung into lofty protest
By the fanged Monster of Colour Segregation;
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Break into dance, O mourners
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For him who was shaped and drilled by Soweto,
And tempered into steel by Robben Island;
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Break into dance, O mourners
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For him who irreversibly raised our human profile,
By equating white with black and grey and all colours;
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     Break into dance, O mourners
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For him who taught us not to think with our skins
But with the common blood in our veins;
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     Break into dance, O mourners
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For him who proved that right is truer than might,
That forgiveness absorbs and dissolves all hatred;
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     Break into dance, O mourners,
     And sweat out your sorrow!
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And now, O you elders among the ancients,
Receive and install him in ritual style
Upon his throne of extreme achievement
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In the company of your prior illustrious sons –
Sundiata and Chaka and Lobengula,
And Kabalega and Kenyatta and Nyerere –
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And let a final roll of Africa’s big drums
Signify his triumphal arrival in the extra-world… Â
The AfricaPaper: Â The writer is Professor of Literature at