Free At Last! Viva South Sudan!

"We have resolved to overcome the past and face the future with a renewed sense of purpose, and it has stirred a forgiveness and reconciliation." 

           --South Sudan Legislative Assembly Speaker James Wani Igga

Photo credit: Roberto Schimdt

It was a joy that reverberated across
From Juba to Kakuma Refugee Camp
It was a tear that escaped an eye
Just one tear-drop that lay hidden
In the gun-powder and mutilated bodies
A tear that lay for years
Still, chilled by horror
Concealed in fear
Suppressed devoid of happiness

As we watched
The clock ticking
The banner saying, 'free at last'
Garang's mausoleum watching by
Battery of journalists thronging by
The many of the returnees coming back home
We could not express that pride
For when the heart sings
Sometimes we keep quiet to let it flow

And to express that moment
One South Sudanese said, 'People
say that we will have problems
but all I know is that we have freedom'
As I watched his countenance
He looked like one who
escaped death, lived in a refugee camp
and drenched in squalor of seeing home up in flames
I believed his words, totally


And from your brother from Kenya
March on, March on, South Sudan
You have inhaled the intoxicating fumes
Of misery, why should you then suffocate
from the mild tempered gas of a new dawn?
You have waded through the empty sands
alone in war, why then as a nation
should you die at the oasis?
With the Proclamation of Independence
What else do you need if not the hurried
Steps to catch up with us, your brothers?
March on, March on, South Sudan

C) Lorot Salem 2011


Lorot Son of the Hills' Notes:

This poem was meant to be written on Saturday 9th July 2011 on the occasion of the birth of the Republic of South Sudan, the 54th state of Africa. However, I was trapped in my scholarly works and tight schedules. But as always, better late than never. Here's to South Sudan...Viva South Sudan!