of enticing mountainous horizon, blazes with flames that

seduce suitors all around the world, admiring this Mecca.

Its courageous lion-hearted people, blooming with love,

seam tapestry of compassion, knitted with sympathy and

empathy: desire democracy by ballot not bullet of despot.

At treacherous road, gangsters plundered the motherland.

Nurture more Bai Burehs, John Akars and Clifford Fyles.

Idols of stature who didn’t wear patriotism like costumes

Their devotion to duty ripened well toward Mama Salone

Evergreen memories of them linger in our heart and soul.

Assemble various ethnic musicians, and faith-based leaders:

griots, cultural dancers would inspire patriotism as fragrance

reciting, crafting poetry as prayers for cleansing, soaring into

the realms above. As justice rolls down as righteousness and

peace as Great Scarcies River. I hope folks feel wanted again.

Let Sierra Leoneans be Sierra Leoneans again, day and night

becoming that dream we’ve eternally dreamed of, wailed for.

I disdain infidels conniving, while tyrants scheme for power.

I’m a peon’s heartbeat with scars of slavery, exiled immigrant

disenchanted by diabolic and viral politics ailing the homeland.

While those hopelessly poor muddle within Kroo Bay’s sewage.

I’m a pulsating voice speaking out for the forgotten and trodden

Orphan-kids left homeless and without education and decent life.

Salone could do so much better, in saving children from sinking.

As we celebrate a milestone of freedom, let’s unlock the mental,

economic and social chains of blindness hunting our compatriots.

Then, a united and selfless nation will blaze into Lion Mountain.

Roland Bankole Marke © 2010

 

Roland Bankole Marke is a Sierra Leonean writer, the author of Teardrops Keep Falling, Silver Rain and Blizzard, and Harvest of Hate: Stories and Essays (Fuel for the Soul). His website: www.rolandmarke.com. Phone: 904-645-5738: email:bankole@mindspring.com

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