By Victor Uzodinma Chukwuma
59. Azania
The bird that sings morning
Of the good dawn
At the Sun’s gate
Is dropping legs to perch.
She brings with her colours
To write rainbow
On the barren sky
Of South Africa.
It claws clutched,
Gagged mouths will sing
With her that sings morning
At the Sun’s gate.
The bird that sings morning
Is dropping legs to perch
She brings with her colours
From light.
60. Nelson Mandela
Take his heart, his everything,
Name his soul the archer’s goal
Than the odour of evil
Prick his conscience.
In the executioners’ dreams
Let him appear,
Than in the claws of void
He leaves the goal.
Many souls have gone
In the call of dawn;
Many Robben hold
For holding up a lantern
And he one.
He will live between the worlds
If his light goes before,
Searching till he finds;
Then shall he rest.
Victor Chukwuma, Professor of Physics, renowned for his immense contribution to the development of Astronomy and Space Science in Nigeria, is a Fellow of the Astronomical Society of Nigeria and the Nigerian Institute of Physics.