Poetry sings of love for Africa

I AM not really into love poetry. Not that I am not romantic, it is just that I am into poetry that deals with serious stuff.

Title: Daughters of Zulu and Other Poems

Author and Publisher: Nhlanhla Damoyi

So it was with this in mind that I got hold of the poetry anthology Daughter of Zulu and Other Poems, the cover of which is illustrated by a portrait of a beautiful smiling woman. Quite catchy, I was tempted to read the poems. The book is self-published by the writer, Nhlanhla Lloyd Damoyi.

Well, Daughter of Zulu and Other Poems is in fact not about poems of romance. Yes it was inspired by the love story of Mary Wilmot, a young English girl who found love in Pondoland, and Damoyi, a Muslim Indian man and runaway slave.

Through fate they met and fell in love in Africa, far away from their ancestral homes.

In this book the love poems are dedicated to the love they had for each other, and for their children. Fair enough. But this book, I discovered, goes beyond just "love poetry".

There are poems dedicated to struggle and peace icons, such as Ghandi, former president Nelson Mandela, and the late musician Miriam Makeba.

There is even one dedicated to the suffering of Zimbabweans who are scattered all over the world after the political meltdown in their country.

"God gifted cords onto her tongue,

Man, woman and child feigned clicks

Africa greatness recalled

Thunderstorm consigned us to a chorus

Cloudburst songs for the legend," an extract of a poem dedicated to Makeba reads.

'Once in hundred years the lighthouse is dimmed,

Hurricanes, storms and disasters tore apart humanity,

Once in thousand years great man and woman are born,

From the bloodied gloves and muddied waters, they rise up to the challenge," reads a poem dedicated to Mandela and Ghandi.

And yet another poem captures well the political situation in contemporary Zimbabwe.

"ragga babe dance for me,

Sway thy dreads to fate unknown,

Down trodden by one of own,

Stand your ground for future generations

Sway thy body to freedom chants,

Tomorrow is upon us, be brave,

A promise is shattered."