I WANT TO SPEAK MY LANGUAGE

I WANT TO SPEAK MY LANGUAGE

I want to speak my language
a language nestled in my heart
watered with love from our streams
nurtured in our dreams
from the cradle of our birth.
I want to speak my language
a language of blackness
more precious than the gold dust
spoken with gladness
and rooted in my bloodline.

I do not want to speak the language of the foreigner when am not a sojourner.
I do not want to speak a language
that makes me uncomfortable
alienating me from my kin
when I’ve not sinned.
I want to speak a language that
is comfortable in my skin.

I will not code’s witch
nor speak in a twang
as though my nose was stitched.
I want to speak to my people
in a plain, simple and honest way
without some eccentricities
or borrowed accents.

Let me speak a language
woven in my DNA
even when am in foreign lands
to uphold my peoples dignity.
When I speak my language
I feel at home and at one
with my ancestors and forefathers.
I feel rooted to the ground
Like an Ober tree.

My language is a language of power,
a language of comportment and not embarrassment.
I dare you to speak my language
or enter a contest with me
in the spoken word of my language.
You will come to the realization
that my language is as sweet and nourishing as food meant for the soul.

For centuries and millennia
you have discredited my language.
you have trashed it in the dustbin of history.
You have maligned it and spat on it
and you have elevated and glorified yours.

You have said my language is not of the labour market
yet my people speak it in our gold and diamond mines.
You have said my language is unscientific yet our medicine men amd women speak it
when they offer healing.

Please, remove that tag that reads,
“This is an English speaking zone.!”
It’s an affront to our collective goodness.
It’s an abuse of our independence and freedom.
Let our children speak our language freely
Let them enjoy the nuances in our language
Let them feel and breath our language fluently
a language of their ancestry
rooted in the pride and dignity
of their bloodline.

Don’t you realize what you have done to us?
Our ancestors are turning and grieving in their graveyards.
Their grandchildren cannot speak
the language of their forebears anymore.
They cannot offer libation to their predecessors.
They cannot chant incantations in their
mother tongues.
They cannot sing lullabies
to their brothers and sisters.
They can’t beat the talking drums in celebrations.
They cannot rouse their brothers and sisters
by singing war chants.
They cannot sing unfaltering circumcision songs.
They take pride in speaking a foreign tongue.
They have no sense of identity.

I do not want to speak your language
It’s a language of lies and duplicity.
A language devoid of honesty.
A language that defiled our morality.
and took away our legacy.

Let me speak my language
allow me to revel in my mother tongue
so that I can articulate my vision
visualize my future
converse with my brethren
and interact with my community.

Sylvester h Wauye