An ode to Miriam Makeba

Thank you for answering the call

to heal the world with music

How can we forget your spiritual

melodies and harmonies of black love and peace

piercing through our ears

We did not dance to forget your message

we danced to live up to the kofifi blues

even though, they called it Jazz

You dished us Marabi, the soul food

of Sophiatown brewed from the townships

and villages

Daughter of Gqwashu, Goddess of the Khoisan

You sacrificed your life for the oppressed

And liberated our souls from the bush

I salute your bravery to free us from mental slavery

Mr Verwoerd could not see what you could see

Even though you were banned from your ancestral land

You shouted black power from across the border with your fists up

The children of Soweto replied from the classrooms

and took the revolution to the streets

You bore all the atrocities with your people on the ground

knowing how it feels like to lose a child as a mother

Tears of the struggles remember your greatness