For ten long years
we spared no one
on the theater of war,
where no glories were won,
only the wasted lives of our kinfolks
and the tired frame
of a battered nation,
where we were prey and predator.
From humble Bomaru,
agony rode through our veins
to the death of heroes and villains,
when blood relatives of this land
hunted one another
with apocalyptic grudge,
fighting to conquer themselves
in a land divided against itself.
We had forgotten the peace
once shared in the noise children made
when they played hide and seek
on nights illuminated by moonlight,
when adults sat around the fire
sharing legends of their land
and the illustrious heroes
whose bold steps cleared our path.
We had strayed too far
from the luminance of Naimbana
and the bravery of Sengbe and Nyangua
to where we became lab animals
in the murderous hands of intoxicated children
controlled by savage hands,
possessed by evil spirits
conjuring our bloody end.
When our neighbors
in green and blue helmets
arrived to keep the peace
our fire had burned too far.
Those with any life left
rose from cinder
like feverish zombies
groaning and trembling to life.
Now let our ruin be our rebirth
as life itself springs from death,
a new country consecrated with blood
germinates with zest and courage,
with a firm commitment
to never again
turn to violence
to settle scores.
-Joseph Kaifala.
Joseph Kaifala is a lawyer , scholar and human rights activist from Sierra Leone.
