by Luvuyo Don Garcia Nontenja

SPEAK!
Speak African woman speak!
Speak louder than they speak
For the nation you the seed
From which children must feed.

Speak now African woman!
Await not a shivering man
Cow dung time long has gone
So your committment be borne

Speak experiences on marriage
What a feeling during miscarriage
More blood wasted during struggle
More bones crushed during struggle.

Speak! You've seen the light
Speak of all the women's plight
Speak and fight for your right
Speak the struggle to win the fight.

Speak the land of plenty
Speak the language of beauty
One voice of labourhood!
One voice of neighborhood!

Speak the joy you received
The first night you conceived
That product of your pride
These children must not die!

Spoken the children of yesterday
Speak the children of today
Speak the children of tomorrow
Speak the roots of their sorrow.

Speak the orphans of education
You the orchard of new brains
Speak the problems of detention
You the cloud of healthy rains!

Speak no shame African woman
You're no shadow of any man
But part of the on-going process
That can help shape our progress.

Speak the voices of the Makebas
Beyond the mountains they sing!
Speak the sounds of the Mbulis
Sounds in our memory they ring!

Speak the comfort and warmth
Fruit tree for children's growth
Be that tree of strongest root
That everyone should eat its fruit.

Speak African woman, speak!
That tongue of motherhood, speak!
The pain of labourhood, speak!
That cause of widowhood, speak!

Speak African girl, speak!
Speak African dame, speak!
Speak African daughter, speak!
Speak African woman, speak!

This poem was written by a reader of Speak who wrote "I was so inspired that I immediately developed an idea of writing this special poem for it."

Source:

Speak, No. 28, 1990 P.O. Box 45213 Mayfair, 2018 Johannesburg South