Lers, Digest this piece, It was sent to list by Alpha Robinson in Feb of 1998. ========================================================================== Some reflections on independence day What Independence When after 33 years We are still battling with poverty Material poverty Spiritual poverty Poverty of will What Independence When after 35 years we own not our minds Our souls and our bodies What independence When the birth of a child Becomes a source of worry When the death of a family member Triggers cold trickles of rejoice When we rejoice instead of crying And cry instead of rejoicing What independence When after 35 years Masquerading is a prerequisite for survival When men and women no longer own their conscience When the educated become gagged maimed and sterile And intelligence amounts to opportunism When justice is murdered in cold blood While we sing dance and rejoice The same dances The same parades What independence When honesty truthfulness and integrity Become the enemy of a people When parents send their children to steal rape and kill What independence When young people have to leave their motherland Their beloved one Uprooted and already defeated In search of life When we fail to provide opportunities for our children To learn grow and live What independence When the cracks on farmers feet The marks of poverty on our clothes and skin Keep haunting us after 33 years When we mortgage our souls and future in international markets When we live on the crumbs Leftover by other nations When leaders still play God with the innocent When keeping our people ignorant Seems to be our greatest achievement What independence When egoism becomes self-righteous When the rich and the poor of today Stand at opposite end of the widening valley While the mixture of blood and tears of our very own Meanders into the common future of destitution What independence When clean potable water The most basic requirement of life Is a luxury to many When the best curable diseases Claim their daily quota on our children Well before they are born When parents can no longer be proud of their children And children can no longer be proud of their parents For being just and honest Seems to be a luxury denied by poverty and corruption What independence are we celebrating? By Alpha Robinson --- End Forwarded Message --- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------