A Tribute to the Fearless Father of Freedom

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A Tribute to the Fearless Father of Freedom

 

There was a time when his people weren’t allowed to say his name

Today they all sing and praise him in a glorious refrain

In every church, synagogue and mosque

His beloved people sing and call out

For all the world to hear

Madiba!  Tata! 446664!

 

He was born to lead

From the moment of his birth

in the village of Qunu

somehow he knew

he would have to fight

for what was right

 

but he was a man

with little airs and graces

yet the hope he spread

shined from his people’s faces

and the rainbow he so longed to see

was realized on the day he set future generations free.

 

His English name was chosen by his teacher

Little did she know

he would be the most devoted preacher

To rid the demon of Apartheid

From the second largest continent

Did she realize at the time

His name would almost rhyme

With a word that signifies

“A symbol in a dream

and  represents the dreamer’s search

completeness and self unity”

A vowel change is the only difference

Mandala and Mandela

Ironically he is the center now.

 

 

446664 was his number as a prisoner

Faded out but not forgotten

Tata and Madiba

Will live forever in his people’s hearts

Because  he too

“took history in his hands,

and bent the arc

of the moral universe toward justice.”

 

Rest in Peace!

By Melba Christie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2 comments

  • Don
    10 Dec 2013 2:50 am

    Beautiful tribute to a giant of a man. Thank you.

    Like

    • Melba Christie at Poemattic
      10 Dec 2013 10:24 am

      Thanks. It is my hope that a few Nelson Mandela’s are in our near future. We need leaders that care about the needs of the people first and are willing to make sacrifices for what is right. I believe he has touched many by setting an example and hopefully his legacy will live on in others.

      Like