This poem is dedicated to the parents, especially the mothers, relatives
and friends of the victims of the massacre. I am aware that nothing can
replace their beloved ones who are now gone, but as I search my mind for
answers, these thoughts keep coming up and I thought I should write them
down for you. If these demonstrations had taken place during my school
days, I might have been one of the victims. So I have been thinking of
how my family would have felt and how I would have liked them to feel.
My heart goes out to you all.

Cry not Mama

Trying to make sense
Out of the senseless
Turning around in circles
Sleepless and restless
Trying to feel your pain

Mothers and fathers of the matyres
Young lives taken away
From earth to earth
Living in our hearts
Forever Forever and Forever

Mothers we mourn by your side
You have carried that baby for eight months
The ninth month demanding your breath
The joy you felt after the birth pains
Hoping and dreaming
That your baby will one day be someone

You gave that baby solid food and love
Toiling under the sun
Nothing you would not do
To give that child a future

Fathers we mourn by your side
You work this earth with bare feet
You deny yourself pleasures
To give that child a future
How anxious you were
Waiting to hear from the maternity ward
Or was it from the home
News about your baby

You two took that child to school
With high expectations
To acquire knowledge
For a better future

Then came the gunman
The neighbour’s child he was
No stranger to you
He calls you mother and father
Yet he turned that gun on your children
And took them away from you
Forever Forever and Forever

But cry not Mama
That child is in eternal peace

How can I tell you
How can I make you understand
That your pain is not in vain
That your pain is mine

Some give their lives for others
In their own way
And live forever

Look at me Mama
I am your child
For what your child died for
Will live in me forever
So they all live in me Mama
All those courageous children
And I am not alone Mama
We are all your children

As you dry your tears
Gripped by grief
Your legs feeling numb and heavy
Trying to make sense out of the senseless
Seek consolation in us
We who will carry your child in us
Until we take our last breath

No they did not die in vain!
For what they died for
Cannot be killed Mama
Justice must come
Freedom must come
A new Gambia will be born
It’s only a matter of time


By Alpha Robinson

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