Ten Thousand Stories

I come as one but I stand as 10 000 stories

10 000 journeys of

Flesh, heartbeat, voice, breath

Bloodlines running like rivers wild

Vessels of DNA criss-crossing this continent

As I stand firmly in the soil of my origin

I carry the hopes of Africa in my chest

And our defiant elders in my lungs

And we have always lived with our hearts towards the sky

We, phoenix-like rise, to new heights

Cradling the aspirations and dreams

Of our beautiful children

The visions of every little one

With imaginations as precious

And as agile as rain

Cradling waves of our narrative lineages

From the beginning to the present

Our stories are embellished on the great wings

Of tomorrow

So, when I speak, I do so as one but I come as many

Because conjuring purpose and passion from pain

Has always been our people’s true alchemy

When we are all gone

These testaments will remain

The future ones will know us by our works of heart;

Our living art

Time will stand tall and bear witness to us in all

Our glory

Our beginning, middle and end

Is commanded by a spirit greater than anything

We have ever known

So, tell your story

Shout it from the rooftops

To the mountaintops

Let it reverberate through the universe

Take up space in places you have never been

Occupy new worlds

Stare down the sky and let them know that you

intend to leave this world as you came…

A collective kind of unconquerable

We come as one but we stand as 10 000 stories

10 000 journeys of

Flesh

Heartbeat

Voice

Breath