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Sister Omega
United Kingdom
2085 Posts |
 Posted - 13 Mar 2009 : 20:54:08
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Camel’s Hooves
By Sophia Sewell-Njie Copyright © 2009
I see you riding on camel’s back
Travelling through the desert
Along sub-Saharan trade routes
On the horizon
The shimmering sun’s golden light
Fills up the blue hazy firmament
Dazzling your eyes
Providing a backdrop
To sandy yellow dunes
Rippling waves of heated sand
Testing by Stretching the endurance!
Whilst sipping cool water
To quench your thirst
Applying Shea butter
Moisturising your chapped lips
Now your Indigo turban
Becomes your best friend
Protecting your face from
Hamattan winds!
As you ride along on Camel’s back
Through those Ancient Sub-Saharan Trade routes
Connecting West Africa to North Africa
Those camel’s hooves step back in time
Synchronizing with the other seventy-nine Camels
Joining Mansa Musa of Mali famous caravan
On his journey on Hajj to Mecca 14th Century!
Preceding Mansa Musa were 500 men
Carrying staffs emblazoned with gold
Set out on the greatest pilgrimage in history
Such a Spectacular event of Medieval Times
With over 60,000 people
Including 12,000 of his personal entourage
All dressed in the finest brocades of Persian silk
Each of his camels carries 300 pounds weight in gold
Riding along on Camel’s back
From Niani we crossed the Niger River
To Walata today’s Mauritania
Onto Tuat today’s Algeria
We prepared the route
For Mansa Musa’s impressive caravan
Stopping off in Cairo
Mansa Musa demonstrates his altruistic piety
Demonstrated by Zakat which means charity
By distributing his gold amongst Cairo’s poor
His caravan becomes the talk of 14th Century Cairo
As a result of his lavish generosity
Egyptian gold prices plummet for more than 12 years
“Go west!” becomes the motto of the day!
Returning homeward
Mansa Musa builds Timbuktu
A city renowned for knowledge
Magnetically drawing African Artists,
Islamic Theologians, Scholars and Poets
Who were paid by his Treasury
To attend Timbooktu’s great Universities.
Timbuktu’s legendary success
Becomes metaphorically synonymous
In the world’s imagination for its distance
Mansa Musa’s testimony of dedicated piety
Manifested in the magnificent illustrious
Mud Mosque of Djenne
And the scholarly metropolis of Gao.
Now as your Camel’s hooves maintain their stride
They advance Fast-forwarding their pace in time
Rejoining bounteous Caravans maintaining their rhythm
Carrying Merchandise from Mediterranean shores
Of Glass, Crystals, Amber, and Coral beads
To exchange into bartered currencies of
Shea butter, Incense, Cotton, Gold and Slaves!
Slaves’ faces were stained
With tormented salted tracked tears
Revealing vivid memories of being wrenched away
From their homes in distance places
Tears drops fallen silent
With their sweat and blood
They were absorbed long ago
By these Hamattan winds and Saharan sand!
Long marches stood as endurance tests
Where only the fittest of the fittest
Slaves could endure such challenges
Under pressure by cracking whips
Traders frogmarched them to the ships.
Those who couldn’t take the pace
Were cut loose left for vultures
To feast upon their caucuses
Over obstacle courses
Littered by sand dunes and rocks
Through caves scattered across desert’s landscape
Staggering exhaustedly in the blurry blazing midday sun
Hamattan’s wind’s swiftly change direction
Unmerciful gusts blow sand into anguished faces.
As you ride on your camel’s back
The enslaved march alongside you
Trying to keep up with your camels strides
Dusk approaches casting its shadow
Whilst you halt to dismount your camel
Entering a cool cave seeking shelter
For the night with your Caravan
At the bass of a huge golden dune
You light a fire and sit down
To mediate just before twilight
As first stars flickers in the dark blue firmament
Guiding water carriers to find sweet waterholes
You are awaken from your dream
By calls to prayer resonating
Along the sub-Saharan trade route
Of the great Sahara desert
As she unlocks her doors of mysteries
Filled with epics of African Antiquity
Revealing the truth through desert sands
Of fantastic adventures to distant lands
Signposted cave paintings highlight the way
To reveal Africa’s prehistoric trade routes.
www.sophiasewell-njie.blogspot.com
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Peace
Sister Omega |
Edited by - Sister Omega on 11 Dec 2009 20:27:53 |
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kaanibaa
United Kingdom
1169 Posts |
Posted - 14 Mar 2009 : 01:23:39
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| What a journey sister, an epic story of the times past ,surely the golden era of our history so well written. I have to read this more and try to drink into the beauty of a pageant narrated here. Nice poem indeed. |
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Sister Omega
United Kingdom
2085 Posts |
Posted - 14 Mar 2009 : 17:06:06
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Greetings Kaanibaa,
I am glad that you were touched by Camel Hooves and were able to take a journey into our past and explore this epic journey with me.
Peace
Sister Omega |
Peace
Sister Omega |
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