John Ngong Kum Ngong
THE STRUGGLE
Looking back brings to mind
pictures of quartered limbs
and charred recalcitrant tongues
wrapped in grey cocoyam leaves.
The bruised brow of our sovereignty
and the blood nationalists spilled
demand the heads of slave drivers.
In the struggle to shoot up straight
in a forest of crooked trees,
I must tread like a chameleon
lest I lose my natural colour.
Looking ahead drives nails
into my distressed heart
forcing my inner man to fight
the beast peddling captivity.
In the attempt to dust myself
and smash the badge of derision
in this jungle called fatherland
I have to sing of self-insults,
pour out my story like soiled water
and nourish docility beefy
lest I collapse without arriving.
Oh, that I could surmount
the wall aliens have raised
in the heart of our psyche
to make you sight better
then this land will be famed.
Oh, that I could bemoan
the loss of our home rule
without making compatriots
kill themselves laughing stupidly,
our country will rise from the dead
I will strip the traitor naked
and inhume him with the stranger
that keeps throwing dust in our eyes.
I will engrave love on your breasts
and mount you on Mount Cameroon
like a beam to beam belonging
in our struggle for acceptance.
John Ngong Kum Ngong
TRYING MOMENTS
Let these darksome moments
not knock off your spirit.
A mortal worth his salt
gets up when he tumbles,
recasts and gets going
resolved to reverse his fate
and pursue pastures unused.
Let these murky moments
not benumb your resolve
to stand a wholesome dish
before our country faint.
When a lion passes on
stars continue to twinkle
so let these letdown moments
not extinguish the fire
we were taught to keep ablaze
even in the womb of scorn.
Let these trying moments
build your muscles instead
for the tussle the next day.
Whether we rejoice or mourn
life jogs on like an athlete
bent on grabbing a trophy.
Get up man and get going
lest tomorrow jeer at you
finding you left nothing good,
nothing to dance home about.
Yes, nothing in the chest of time
even in the suitcase of shame
we have carried since union day.