A NEW WORLD SINGING

An absolutely wonderful poem by Niyi Osundare [note that this is (c) the author, with grateful acknowledgement]. From Selected Poems 1992, a verse which is appearing on London underground trains. Talk about an oasis in the desert...

I sing of Change

I sing of the beauty of Athens
Without its slaves

Of a world free of kings and queens
And other remnants of an arbitrary past

Of earth
With no sharp north
Or deep south

Without blind curtains
Or iron walls

Of the end of warlords and armourers
And prisons of hate and fear

Of deserts
Treeing and fruiting
After quickening rains

Of the sun
Radiating ignorance
And stars informing
Nights of unknowing

I sing of a world re-shaped.