Published on Dec 28, 2015 by Illume
For the month of December, Illume provided a platform for poets to speak out on the tragedy happening to our brothers and sisters next door in Burundi. The theme was #StandForBurundi“
Realizing that history was repeating itself, I raised my voice hoping that Rwanda and the world could hear the cries of people suffering from the same virus that Rwanda went through between 1990 and 1994. Realizing that these massacres seem like a cycle, I titled my piece Burundi’s Turn
Burundi’s Turn – Lyrics
When an elephant in the wild loses its mind;
The grass and trees pay a heavy price;
Mother nature cries rivers of tears while,
The wind plays an old time sad melody;
For the weak left at the giant’s mercy;
Might makes right, you know the story;
I am a keeper of memory, that’s why I write poetry;
For the beautiful country that is Burundi;
Before the blood of your children fills up your valleys;
And all that remain on the hills are empty sorries;
I pray that the world feels your pain like a knife in the spine;
May your tears overflow on our social feeds and timelines;
May we get no sleep till you find peace in the morning;
Then maybe we will stop being indifferent to your suffering;
And stand up for you coz you can’t right now;
Broken limbs got you falling apart, but deep down;
I know you’re crawling, here’s a shoulder for you to lean on;
No guns but we soldier on, marching through the dawn;
Hoping that the sun brings a new day to your sons and daughters’ home;
And when we look at each other in the morning;
We really mean it when we say “Amahoro.”
#1Key
