John E. Kargboson Cole passed away on 15 November 1998. He was born in Songo, Sierra Leone. He moved to the United States in 1972 and graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University (formerly Marion College) in Marion, Indiana. He enjoyed writing very much. His poems were submitted posthumously by his wife, Edna Mae Sanders.

 

The African Family

The African family
Is the foundation
Of the tribal settings
It is a cluster of generations,
Consisting of extended families.
A man’s family
Consists of wives, sons and daughters,
Brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts,
Cousins, nephews, nieces,
Grandfathers and grandmothers, and
Many more.

The man may inherit if he so desires
His brother’s wife or wives and children.
The grandparents are the groits
Of the family.
They pass on the history of the family
To the young;
Who in return pass it
To the next generation yet unborn.

 

Britain

Oh mother Britain 
Who thou oncest was 
The powerful of powerfuls 
The pilots of pilots 
And the captain of captains 
Where hast thou today? 
No longer occupying 
The driver’s seat. 

O yes everything 
Has its end 
History repeats itself 

Babylon fell and rose 
No more 
Timbuktu fell and rose 
No more 
Mali fell and rose 
No more 
Ghana fell and rose 
No more 
Songhai fell and did rise 
No more 
And now Britain is falling and will rise 
No more. 

There is a time for a nation to lead 
And there is a time 
For a nation to be led. 
There is a time to gain 
And a time to loose. 
A time to exploit 
Poorer nations 
And a time for them to rise 
Against it. 

 

Kwameh Nkrumah

Was a poor foreign student 
In London 
Who became Ghana’s 
First head of state 
He was a spokesman for the 
Great Pan-African dream 
Of freedom and independence 
He formed the convention People’s Party 
His tribesman opposed him 
On his western-style political thoughts 
Francis Nkrumah as he was once known 

Human Rights Violations 
The violation of human rights 
Is done in two ways 
By individuals and organizations 
In democratic countries 
And by the government 
As in the communist countries 
And in some third world countries 

The violation of rights 
Is due to institutionalized 
And stereotyped systems 
Both in the West and East 
And in the third world countries. 

Jomo Kenyatta

Here was another poor foreign student
In London called Johnstone
He was later on known as Jomo
He was born in Kenya
And belonged to the Kikuyu tribe
He esteemed the friendship
Of intellectuals more than anything else
He attached and criticized
The opinions of his friends
Yet he respected them despite the difference in opinions
As a student
In London
He was elected president
Of the Pan-African Federation
He called the British –
Imperialists
Yet they remained affectionate friends.
He laughed at Nkrumah's
Ritualistic tendencies of blood spilling
He was in the end to follow
Similar patterns
When he was forced by his tribesmen to abandon
His western style philosophy
And assert himself in tribal ways
He was isolated
He had not friends
With the intellectual comradeship
That had been so vital to him
When he was a student in London
This was the only way he could win the confidence
Of his people
To become the first
Head of state
To lead the country
To independence
He became the victim
Of circumstance
That of tribalism
And that of westernism
His brain became
The battlefield of his thoughts
He lost his westernism-principle
And formed the Mau Mau Society