Written piece
Children of Lucy
Kingwa Kamencu
Kenya
About this piece
The poem is about Lucy the mother of mankind (bone fossils found in Ethiopia). It imagines her looking down on earth and shedding tears for what has become of humanity; her children. She is heartbroken at how they have turned on each other and forgotten their common heritage.
Children of Lucy
Lucy, mother of all
Shining in the sky with diamonds*
Looks down on the earth
And her tears fall as rain.
She’s sad,
Aggrieved
Heart broken,
That her children forgot who they were.
Forgot their roots
Forgot their common heritage
Forgot they were once brother and sister.
And now the children of Lucy’s children
Kill each other
Enslave each other
Rape each other
Without compunction.
It’s silly today
To entertain high hopes
Of oneness
Of solidarity
Of community
Of care
Of the world as a better place.
But Lucy,
Of the fossil bones of Ethiopia*
Is one of the mothers that do ave em.*
Her simpler children
Are finding it hard to hold on to hope
Are finding it hard to believe that things can be better
Are finding nothing worth living for
All around is darkness, meanness, gloom and pain.
Give us a signal Mama Lucy
Like Malema asked from Winnie*,
Give us a sign,
Give us a signal,
Send us your light.
References
*Shining in the sky with diamonds – References the 1967 Beatle’s song ‘Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds’
*Is one of the mothers that do ave em – References the BBC sitcom of 1973 – 1978 Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em that featured an innocent, naïve, simple-minded main character Frank Spencer
*Of the fossil bones of Ethiopia – Lucy was the name given to the 3.2-million-year-old fossilized skeleton of an early human ancestor (Australopithecus afarensis) discovered in Ethiopia in 1974. She is considered the mother of mankind
*Like Malema asked from Winnie - Julius Malema, the founder of South African Economic Freedom Fighters opposition party invoked the phrase “give us a signal” at Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s funeral in 2018, asking her to guide them on how to handle political hypocrites and sell-outs that betrayed her and made her a pariah.