Kofi Awoonor – The Anvil and the Hammer
Caught between the anvil and the hammer
In the forging house of a new life,
Transforming the pangs that delivered me
Into the joy of new songs
The trappings of the past, tender and tenuous 5
Woven with the fibre of sisal and
Washed in the blood of the goat in the fetish hut
Are laced with the flimsy glories of paved streets.
The jargon of a new dialectic comes with the
Charisma of the perpetual search on the outlaw’s hill. 10
Sew the old days for us, our fathers,
That we can wear them under our new garment,
After we have washed ourselves in
The whirlpool of the many rivers’ estuary.
We hear their songs and rumours every day 15
Determined to ignore these we use snatches from their tunes,
Make ourselves new flags and anthems
While we lift high the banner of the land
And listen to the reverberation of our songs 20
In the splash and moan of the sea.
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