The Obama Serenades V

Folkloric Drum-Script

This is Ghana!
Listen to Ghana!!
This is Ghana!!!
Listen to Ghana!!!!
This is Ghana!!!!!
This is Ghana!!!!!!
This is Ghana!!!!!!!

Ghana
is the land
where men first began
to build in stone,
this is the land
of Adansi-Pipim,
master-builder,
unbested maker
of war
and
peace…

here also
the Akan art
of governance
and justice
was hatched…

this is the land
where the spider
taught us to weave
and clothe
ourselves;
we are the fabled weavers
of Kente and Adinkra bolts…

Ghana,
land of
the regal
Adowa dance,
Kpanlogo,
Agbadza and
Boboobo,
land of rhythmic
dance of
the soul…

we dance
when we are happy
and dance
when we are sad
and dance again
when we are neither
happy
nor
sad…

we are a
vibrant folk,
we are full
of song
and art…

Ghana,
land of
the fertility doll,
disk-headed
Akuaba;
we make love
around the clock
and settle scores
with measured
response;
we are not prone
to the total destruction
of our frenemies,
just deft
in our containment
of their wiles…

hallowed land
of Ansa-Sasraku Brempong,
conqueror-of-conquerors,
supreme coach
of Asante-Kotoko,
land of Osei-Tutu,
lord of the African prairie,
mighty one,
it is only Susubiribi,
the great sylvan cat,
that comfortably rubs shoulders
with the lynx…

we are spawned from
the ancient loins
of Mali and
Songhai,
yet we precede them both,
we are scions
of a self-begotten god…

Ghana,
land of
Obunumankoma,
Dapagyan and
Osono,
beyond the strength
of the pachyderm
is entombed
the very creator
of our world…

land of
Anokye
of Akuapem-Awukugua,
supreme servant
of Odomankoma,
Lord-Protector
of the deprived
and despondent…

we come from
far off yonder,
yet we never left
this land
of our birth;
we are of
Akan stock,
we are of
Dangme stock,
we are Dagomba
and Conja
and Dagarti
and Mamprusi
and Konkomba
and Nanumba
and Ewe
and Guan;
we are all
that any human
can be and
still more beyond
and besides…

Ghana,
primal kingdom
of gold
and
diamond
and
bauxite
and
manganese
and endless
petro-chemical
wrabgling…

we have traveled
from afar
and yet
we always
owned this land…

7/10/09

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr.

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