BY ALEM HAILU
What this generation
Was blindfolded by the junta
Not to understand
Or not learn about
Its history grand
Epitomizing freedom
Emanating from
Spectacular unity
In showdowns,
Super courage that demand,
Ethiopians did take
The upper hand.
That is why Ethiopia’s tricolor
Combatants of liberty
Across the globe permutated
A magic wand.
Adwa’s victory
Is a seminal seed indeed
To the negritude wave
That rippled
From Caribbean Islands
To Africa
And Harlem Renaissance,
Which thrived,
In North America.
What this generation
Was blindfolded by the junta
Not to understand
Or not to learn about
Its history grand
Ethiopians
Inhabit a land
A land of bounty and plenty
What is more
Time-old religiosity
Accentuated by considerateness
And cordiality
But the shameless try
Unfairly to exploit
Its generosity.
But those Ethiopia’s sovereignty
Try to violet
Ethiopians will not tolerate.
What this generation
Was blindfolded by the junta
Not to understand
Or not learn about
Its history grand
Forefathers glued one
In the face of adversity
To ensure their liberty
But covetous enemies naughty
In search of Ashlee’s heels
Nonstop try to erode
That glamorous identity.
Buying fifth columnists
Who want to secede
For owns end
Historic enemies try
In regional states
To plant the hatred seed
In a futile bid.
What this generation
Was blindfolded by the junta
Not to understand
Or not learn about
Its history grand
Paying spectacular sacrifices
Religious leaders
Cursed even the land
To fascist and invaders
If it yields a hand
Emboldening citizens
To show similar resistance
By way of tipping
The just-cause balance.
What this generation
Was blindfolded by the junta
Not to understand
Or not learn about
Its history grand
Now with a facelift
The colonizer bugs
With long tentacles
Hiding their subjects
Are salivating to siphon
Ethiopia’s natural gift
Creating a divisive rift.
The predators, in the
Scramble for power food chain,
Chased away and in a hurry
Did time bombs bury in fury
So to initiate conflicts
At any time
They do not have
Much to worry
Farfetched colonial claim
They could use
The global community
To confuse.
Former subjects or preys,
Wrongly molded,
Adore to see
The perpetuation of
The colonial legacy
As a policy.
What this generation
Was blindfolded by the junta
Not to understand
Or not learn about
Its history grand
There is nothing so idiot
Bartering one’s nation
To line up one’s pocket.
Or with ethno-nationalist bent
Dishing out
“We and they” a story line
To deflate
The nationalist sentiment
That reigned supreme
To date.
What this generation
Was blindfolded by the junta
Not to understand
Or not learn about
Its history grand
Some activists &
So called politicians
To meet owns end
Press the divisive fuse
Freedom, democracy
Liberty and federalism
To abuse.
Clicking with
Historic enemies
And their mentors
Fanning
Ethno-nationalist sentiment
They try to compensate
Fighting a lost battle
In a political debate.
For want of substance
While waxing political eloquence
Via the slit of their fingers
They lose the chance.
What this generation
Was blindfolded by the junta
Not to understand
Or not learn about
Its history grand
Ethiopia’s language, culture
And religions
And its pride
Have surfed
Time’s tide
Thanks to the victory
Forefathers managed
To ride
We have no instilled
Inferior feeling
From force of habit
Or on grounds of skin color
Ourselves to hide
Of course
There are traitors
(Judah the culprits)
To revolution exporters
That serves a Trojan horse
Unity supreme growth
Brings forth
Therefore discord
Must be shunned
From our abode
But underlined
Must be
The fear of God.
The Ethiopian Herald December 31/2020
