THE SAPIENS' BURDEN

 

Robust your back shall be

And keen the will of thee

Great patience you shall need

To, eventually, see 

The glorious twilight

Of equality in right

The might of which shall blind

The eyes of the impolite 

That date's sight is still far

-Though, each day less apart-

But to endure, to keep heads up

Will lead mankind to shine 

Embrace the sapiens' burden:

Centuries of bloodsheds

Inflicted to their siblings

Whose faces became red 

For blood and gall released

By the hearts the all-time flogged

In name of civilitycivilty they locked

Us up and made our livers rot 

So fight with nails and teeth

Whoever don't want to see

You live, happy and free

Shall you never fall on knees 

But learn, son, to forgive

Understand that only a few

Are the ones who've been deceived

And spit hate upon you 

Don't fall for the fatal deed

Don't make the mistake you too

Don't judge someone for his skin

Whether it's white, green or blue 

One day we shall not worry

All around the globe we'll be jolly

We'll laugh 'bout this, proud

Jointly on humanity's merry-go-round

 

Matteo Carta 

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN

 

I feel like an animal 

without dignity

exploited for no apparent reason 

and yet I am so similar to my exploiter.

 

I don’t understand 

but, anyway,  I’ll do whatever they tell me.

I’ll close my eyes and

dream of being able to fly one day 

but every time I open them 

I realize I can’t escape and I’ll never be free

 

so, in my mind, inevitably, one question appears

a simple question: why?

I have no given answer yet

I think the answer is in the name I’m called: 

BLACK

Sara Palermo

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN

It's really hard

we want to be free

I hate colonisation.

 

These white men are evil

I don’t want to work for them

I hate the Europe.

 

The white want to kill us

I need to defend my land

I hate this life.

 

I dream of a right world

Africa must be free

l’ll love the future.

Riccardo Carlin

 

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN

 

Voice to the black man!

Save our last strengths,

Give our life to the white man 

We are prey of Europe's atrocious hunger.

 

Voice to the black man! 

We are for it as the nectar for the gods, 

The dish served on a silver plate;

With its heat devouring everything.

 

Voice to the black man!

Europe clears its conscience

Hides the dark side of Imperialism.

Tells of wanting to educate and elevate us.

 

Voice to the black man!

It has seized the opportunity.

The truth: we are simply a means to make money,

They win and we lose.

 

Voice to the black man!

Our uprooted roots,

Our overturned traditions.

Habitual are the western manners.

 

Voice to the black man!

On the agenda

Abuse and oppression;

Erased our rights as free people.

 

Voice to the black man!

It steals our wealth

On the fields leaves the corpses,

We are slaves, we are prisoners.

 

Voice to the black man!

To contend with the disastrous consequences,

This is our destiny 

We are unable to free ourselves from the European yoke. 

 

Giorgia Gerola

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN

 

 hear the death rattle in a man’s mouth

feel all your hopes slide away

like the wind on the ending day

like is sliding away your youth

 

the sound of the chains is ringing

the noise of suffering is loud

all the day a harrowing sound

is my freedom that I’m missing

 

Where is the civilization you have promised?

I can’t find all your good actions

realize that you aren’t with yourself honest

 

it’s all for your economic satisfactions

of all the methods the oddest

overwhelm the black ones

Eugenio Donini

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN

 

 

Take up the Black Man’s burden

treated like an animal, 

we are beasts that have to be tamed.

 

I put all my forces into my survival

this cannot be the life I was born for

this is a living hell.

 

Forced to work every hour of every day 

since they came here to my motherland, 

they think they are superior.

It upsets me that they do not realize

without our presence, they would be nothing, 

they would have nothing.

 

They are starving us, they are whipping us 

we are prisoners seeking freedom

looking for some dignity and some respect.

 

When I have the illusion to be free, 

or at least when I can let my mind travel  

I dream of my land without this white cruelty. 

Chiara Zadra