FREE APES

I am vexed by emotion
Reason plagues my freedom
A slave to instincts
Breathing by carcass and wild fruit

I follow in the footsteps
Of warriors fallen
Chained by imperialism and greed
Choked by labor forced
To feed a bunch of white apes

I share faces with the apes
With animals unequal in the eyes
Of man made gods
Whose crowns are baked?
In blood and salts of pure souls

I fall asleep
But I can still smell
The stench of rotting hearts
Failing to drum

I can still hear my ancestors’ whispers
Through the wind
Through the sweat
I hear them scream through the scotching heat of the savanna

I hear them when I plough the land
Through the gossip of the African queens
They wave and dance through culture
Their names mentioned in folk songs

I can still hear the drum
I can still hear my ancestors’ whispers
Saying; son! You are still a slave
Do not be deceived
Let your heart drum louder than the sounds of cival-lie-mason.