When This Silence Shall Speak

By Akemfua Festus

Most of the poems in When This Silence Shall Speak were written between 1998 and 2005, corresponding to the authors last years in university and the period of his professional accountancy studies. The country was undergoing severe economic crises, exacerbated by pervasive corruption, patronage and nepotism, waste, social decay, elections rigging, and disrespect for state authority. Unemployment was at its peak, with young people seeking to move abroad by whatever means possible. It is against this backdrop that the author sought through poetry not only to draw the attention of his fellow countrymen to the negative consequences of such ills in societyespecially on the poorer and vulnerable classes, with whom he identifiesbut to also carefully relate and transmit the spirit of his time to a generation that may be blessed to live in a better time.

The poems in this volume are carefully selected to vividly portray the moods, events, experiences, frustrations, and aspirations of his people. Though written over a decade ago, they remain as relevant today as they were in the yesteryears.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Jan 29, 2018
• ISBN: 9781546286769

Akemfua Festus

Born on the 24th of January 1978 in Yaound, the capital city of Cameroon. Akemfua Festus obtained his First School Leaving Certificate in 1988 from the Catholic Primary School Buea Town. From there he moved to Bilingual Grammar School Molyko -in Buea, where he obtained his GCE Ordinary Level Certificate in 1993 and the GCE Advanced Level Certificate in 1995. In 1999 he obtained a Bachelors of Science degree (hons) in Chemistry from the University of Buea, in Cameroon. In 2009 he became a full member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA Glasgow UK). He has worked as an auditor and senior risk consultant with a Big 4 accounting firm in Cameroon, before joining the banking industry in December 2011. Married with four (04) kids, he enjoys reading literary works, writing, watching movies, and going out with friends.

Book preview

1

Having bestowed the magisterial staff

To the child you never knew,

You plunged into the abyss of indifference

And slept from dawn to dawn.

Our brother …

He, too, is your son.

He whom you raised above us

Has done us great harm.

Our brother—your son—

His greed struck us with fury,

Like an axe on dry wood.

We fell apart, mesmerized.

Time procured consciousness.

Some called out, but no one answered.

No one remembered his own name.

All had forgotten the sound of familiar voices.

Your son has done us great harm.

Free greed has split us

To thief and beggar, and strangely,

We steal—beg, beg—steal.

My country, you slept for long.

Even now that the flag sags

In rebellion to your lofty anthem,

Sleep still holds your eyelids hostage.

O fatherland, wake up!

Rise from this mad slumber; if not,

What will your children say when your enemies ask:

What has become of your children?

2

Come, join us in ash and sackcloth.

Arise and sing this sour dirge, and

May our cold tears be

Enduring dew, which will in time

Revitalize our land to a bud of rose

Of peace, this nation neglected to its grave.

Our dream is one and sure to give

New conscience and a living spring of hope.

3

Alas, is that the sound of rain?

I see the land stirred and drummers in their stride.

Once I saw a silvery shade on this desert sand.

Raced across leg-pulling dunes to quench my thirst.

I am broken!

Long have I watched the drifting clouds for the fleeting sign of dawn.

My eyes bleed the bitter waters of years of waste.

O, my child-woman, my love, my land!

I see you raped, and my tongue can no longer speak.

Let these tears tell the grief that now bears me.

My woman, my bride, my pain is yours and more,

Being your sorrow and the impotence