A Struggle For Nationhood Poem by Phillip Nine Mafunga

Did they not walk tall
Through thorns and rocks, for us all
Serpents and beasts, their aspirations could they not stall
The tall seeing the future in distances afar
Dreams shaping bright in the yet born

Many of the brave lie gallantly in the grave
Marked and unmarked, the power of unity they wave
A story so great that the annuls of history still crave
A rainbow of dreams is what they struggled for us to have
Batwa, Mutapa, Changamire, Mambo, Mzilikazi, rich is the grave

Treachery, treason, and blood stained victories
Mighty kingdoms have always sung from their hymnals
As they went about pillaging, conquering and subjugating the weak
For a single tribe does not make a nation even for a week
So was the making of our nation- from a mixed multitude!

It is in the unity dreamt and fought for
It is in the diversity that we have the uniqueness
It is in the sense of belonging and respect that fosters peace
It is in the sheer numbers that greatness shouts into the horizons
And if many of us are brave, many of us will have!
4 June 2021