by Ayomikun Soyombo
I have kissed the glory of Oscar. Mighty hearts have honoured me. I became a slave. To be crowned a queen
1. I was neither born a slave
Nor as a queen
Black was my skin
And slim my frame
I loved to smile
I was born into the Luo ancestry
2. Mexico was my birth place
Kenya my homestead
I once walked the streets of Nairobi
A little girl chasing my little dreams
Acting flowed within my veins
It at the end pushed me to Yale
3. In 12 Years A Slave
I picked 500 pounds of cotton daily
For a master who repeatedly raped me
A master whose brutality lighted my path to fame
The memoir was written in 1853
In 2012 it drowned my reality
4. The world paused in awe
As I cried in slavery
My embittered voice made cinemas shudder in silence
As an era of sadness was reawakened
But then has slavery really ended in the world?
Has slavery ended in Africa?
5. I have kissed the glory of Oscar
Mighty hearts have honoured me
I became a slave
To be crowned a queen
Victory, truly, never eludes the heart
That keeps dreaming, that keeps fighting
6. You may be denied success in a season
I urge you to never give in
Bleak & lonely may be your path
Still try not to give in
Castles of gold are not built in a day
Except in the fictitious worlds of magic
7. Dreams never die
When we don’t let go of hope
Hope stirs the heart
Rousing strength to conquer distant lands
Many more ‘Lupitas’ lurking in Afica’s womb
Never sleep, never slumber, never give in!
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Soyombo Ayomikun tweets from @alabaster85
Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.