LET SOMETHING OF ME SURVIVE (I'M AFRICAN)

• Shenetty Makoti, Grade 11
• Poetry
• 2017

Let something of me survive when darker nights arrive All pain and adversity, patience shall outlive
Let the light of my fire glimmer
For dreams I have to be more than a shimmer

I'm Africa not because of the place I'm in
I'm Africa because of the songs that I sing
The melanin in my skin never defined me
But this rich blackness is what distinguishes me

When I can't remember the singing voices
Let me not forget the singer's words
When I'm far from home and my tongue speaks foreign Let my heart beat in vernacular

I'm an African, who stands by the strength that binds my bones I shall cry my mother's name from my death bed
I shall carry to the grave my father's pride But when that day comes unsought Let something of me survive