HOW DID UBUNTU FAIL?

The world, God’s gift,
Was originally a dwelling for all
Without demarcation
Without ownership
How humans heckled hostage
And carved supremacy to draw lines called borders
Made a funny video in my mind
Sanity made it understandable
Development made it beautiful
Until ownership turned vindictive
Murdering beings
In a nice x word, clothing a devilish doom
How did Ubuntu fail?

II
I thought Ubuntu spelt out compassion and virtues in humanity
I thought Ubuntu could turn mother
To hug all black lands in its bosom to blossom
I thought Ubuntu could one day turn African Anthem
To unite the black continent
Into a contender unbeatable
I thought Ubuntu could speak to hearts
Knowing no differences between colours so varied
And will never see a difference in shades of black
But here we are
In a horrifying horror
How did Ubuntu fail?

III
I can see the spirit of Madiba
Wailing the woes of guttered sacrifices
I see the shape of Africa
Writhing in painful deformity as uniformity loses form in shocking inhumanity
I can see the continent on the stage of insults
As fellow humans queer us brainless
I see sluggish souls selling South Africa
In the parcel of Africa
To the world as animals needing buyers
I see African Bosiakos battling death for a comeback
With fists of unfairness and disappointments
How did Ubuntu fail us?

IV
It is a simple matter of living as others live
It is a common sense of one world for all living
It is a human knowledge of home being where the heart leads
It is a common love of neighbours
That waters growth in every positive way
In a day when humans are like porridge mixed with sugar
On all grounds
How can we get here?
How did Ubuntu fail?

V
This naked madness needs a stopping!
This naked hurting needs a sane clothing!
This modeling horror needs no stage
On this struggling continent
For we know the “I am because we are”
We know none leaves the other behind
We know all the faces of Ubuntu
All the fingers of Ubuntu
All the senses of Ubuntu
And all its dictates
Let’s not allow Ubuntu to fail
In this love zone with equal bones in a colour
For we lose it all
If one calls out hatred as the other responds
That contagion can cripple us
Into a never rising
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 3, 2019