Africa My Africa - By David Diop

An African Child

The Poem below was written by David Diop many years ago. Little is known of the Poet himself  but here  at Literati-World, we have taken a step forward to give you all the available info about the poet, you will find the info about the poet just after the poem, enjoy.

Africa

Africa my Africa
Africa of proud warriors in ancestral savannahs
Africa of whom my grandmother sings
On the banks of the distant river
I have never known you
But your blood flows in my veins
Your beautiful black blood that irrigates the fields
The blood of your sweat
The sweat of your work
The work of your slavery
The slavery of your children
Africa tell me Africa
Is this your back that is bent
This back that  breaks under the weight of humiliation
This back trembling with red scars
And saying yes to the whip under the midday sun
But a grave voice answers me
Impetuous child that tree young and strong
That tree over there
Splendidly alone amidst white and faded flowers
That is your Africa springing up anew
springing up patiently obstinately
Whose fruit bit by bit acquire
The bitter taste of liberty.

Written by David Diop

Born in Bordeaux to a Senegalese father and a Cameroonian mother in 1927,  Diop is often considered one of the most promising French West African poets. His short life's work often involved his longing for Africa and his empathy for those fighting against the French colonization of the mainland. His work shows a hatred for the oppressors and the aforementioned empathy for the oppressed. He employed casual narrative styles in his poetry, and thus it became a new style of protest poetry. In 1960, Diop and his wife were killed in a plane crash returning to France from Dakar. Most of his work was unpublished and supposedly destroyed in the crash; all that remains of his poetic bibliography are the twenty-two poems.