Solomon Daniel Kamara, popularly known as Soloja, was born in Mattru Jong. He attended the Albert Academy and Fourah Bay College. He taught at the Ahmadiyya Muslim Secondary School in Freetown. At the time these poems were submitted, he was a final year student at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, where he is pursuing a Masters in Divinity degree. He lives in Lowell, Massachusetts.

 

Bomb in the Ballot Box!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Horrible memories of elections past
Make me cringe!!
Of drunks who will never fast
Theirs the binge!!

Oh! The oozing blood
Of the innocent!!
Hellish politicians order the flood
Then dies those who never owned a cent!!

My plea to you mighty warriors dear
Is to let the people live!!
Your war instilled so much fear
So all they ask is for you to leave!!

And now as you prepare to vote
To drink and to kill
Know ye that we used to dote
Politicians who loved and did not kill!!!!

 

International Shame

When are the lies going to stop?
Where next will the bombs drop?
And now you prepare for elections
Oh no! I see more extra-judicial executions

Peace has returned to Kosovo we know
In Sierra Leone there is nothing to show
The killings, the rapes, bestiality reigns
The evil one reigns and continually feigns

Let my people go!! Let my people go!!
The River Sewa was bloody in Bo
Bodies floated on the River Jong
Havoc visited Mattru Jong

Scenic Kono lies in ruin almost gone
Nongowa, Kailahun almost undone
Makeni, Kabala who hit you so low?
And Western Area, nasty was that blow!

I hope I cited east, west, north and south
Lest someone to my ears comes and shout
That I left out their region or tribe
National disease that word tribe

And now I see them clear
Relatives and friends dear
Who now lie in the grave
That was not meant for the brave

In my nightmare I see them all covered in blood
Untimely births, raped kids, amputees soaked in blood
National sorrow! International shame! Stop it now!
Now is the time!! Now now now now now now now!!!!

Sengbe Pieh, Bai Bureh, Kailondo, rest in peace
For traitors and mercenaries have taken a piece
Of your country and fed the insatiable beast
And now plan with diamonds, a bloody feast

 

Butchery of the Innocent Child

And tomorrow the cock will crow
But then the blood will start to flow.
A six year old girl, with tear-filled eyes
Pleading with captors who were never nice
As they with a broken beer bottle began to cut
Her tender young hand, for what she knew not
"Papa! Wuna sorry for me! Nor cut me han!!"

"Father! Have mercy on me! Don’t cut my hand!!

But the cruel butchers now smelling blood
With an evil grin and smiles so broad
Stepped on her neck to stifle her screams
And soon her blood flowed like a stream.
Her mother five feet away being gang-raped
Her thirteen year old sister being gang-raped
"Me han! Me han! Den don cut me han!"

"My hand! My hand! They have cut my hand!"

Oh! Dear reader! Alas! This is not fiction.
It happened, is happening, stinking diction.
Sierra Leone! Every time I sit down to write
I cry! I feeeeel your pain! I know your plight.
I cry freedom! I pray for genuine peace and freedom
No more killings! Rapings! We want peace and freedom
Help! Help! Help! Help poor Sierra Leone!

In her heyday her university shaped Africa
Her diamonds enriched the Western world
She provided a stable environment for her people
But now you leave her to suffer and die!!
"Land that we love our Sierra Leone!!"

 

 Bleeding Tears

Weep no more
Cover your sore.
Don't let them know
It pains you so.
You have cried for too long
But I know that you are strong.
Oh! My cup is bitter!

Wake up from your nightmare
And let others share
Of your innocence lost
But bestial satisfaction of their lust
Oh! My flesh is weak!

What madness, what depravity
What sickness, what insanity
Could have led you to kill
Make activity become still?
Oh! Even meek Azzo became a victim!

But arise o my Sierra Leone!
You are not alone!
Rip up your mourning garments
Receive the sacraments
God will return!!!!!!!

 

A National Miscarriage!!!!!!

Look!! Yes look deep within you
Pause! Introspect and be objective
Birth pangs! Mayhem! Anarchy! Treacherous smiles!!!
Oh! How can we hate her so?
How long is this going to last?
How many are ashamed of the land of their birth?
We say we love her, but we love her not!!
We say we care ,but we do not show it!!
Oh! Let us throw hypocrisy to the dogs!!

"I am from the south!!"
"He is from the north!!"
"She is from the east!!"
"They are from the west"

How pitiful! But more pitiful it will be
When all will lie in ruin, and history will write:
"This was once a country!! it was called Sierra Leone!! it had sons and
daughters!! They came from the east, west, north and south, but not one!
Nay!! Not even one, came from Sierra Leone!!!!!"

 

The Rape of the Virgin (An Ode to Sierra Leone)

Palmtree swaying, tourists smiling, Lumley Beach of old.
Land mines buried, terrorists abound, the story is told.
Young innocent school girls of yesterday, walk the beach
Who yesterday was pure, now transformed into a bitch!

Soldiers everywhere, now aids a creepy reality.
Fatality ensured, loose people attain sobriety.
Tough choice; be raped or become the rebel's concubine.
She shut her eyes to deny an international columbine!

Oh! Where was justice fled?
When my people bled?
They raped the virgin!!
I say, they raped the virgin!!!

 

"'Arise' is a salute to sierra leone as a nation with the capacity to rise up from its ashes. It is a poem that seeks to rekindle hope in a dying nation.' - SDK

Arise!!!

As the light dispels the darkness
So have you overcome the evil.
Thy plight O Miserable Nation
Has strengthened your resolve.

Twas but a year ago that I in frankness
Poemmed your encounter with the devil.
Glory! For to now a standing ovation
Greet you, as you evolve.

Oh! Let them doubt your readiness
So you their logic may bedevil.
Sierra leone, the only train in my station
Remain forevermore a mystery to solve!!!!

 

Bloody Reality

Drip! Drop! Drip! Drop! Rain drops!
Drip! Drop! Drip! Drop! Blood drops!
While blood dries and blood drops
While my people die and blood drops
Some say that killings and rapes have dropped

Bang! Boom! Bang! Boom! Ammunition flies!
Bang! Boom! Bang! Boom! Covered by flies!
And maggots-filled bodies darkened by flies
Lie undignified in territories ruled by flies
Some say that maimings and torture have dropped

Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah! All we do is talk!
Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah! Some act some talk!
While trembling and afraid and cannot talk!
Our people need us to care, write and talk!
Some say the looting and robberies have dropped!

United Nations! Citizens of the free world!
Listen to the parched voice of the third world!
I read a United Nations report of a drop!
Peace will only return if you make it stop!
So do not feel good to report that it dropped!
Of killings and rapes etc it's time they stopped!

 

Abandoned Mother

She is tired of crying
Her lips forever quivering.
She is tired of hiding
Her enemies forever pursuing.
She is tired of the rapings
Her rapists forever panting.
She is tired of the groanings
Her children forever dying.
She is tired of their lyings
Real help never forthcoming.
She is tired of your fighting
Your maimings and your killings.
She is tired of your digging
Of minerals and bodies decomposing.
She is tired of your prostituting
Of young ones quickly ageing.
She is tired of your watching
But never praying.
She is tired of your grumblings
Your sense of nationalism never enduring.

You are tired of belonging
You are tired of supporting
You are tired of helping
You are tired of shaping
You are tired of knowing
You are tired of preventing
You are tired of trying
You are tired of educating
Yes you! Me! Him! Her!
We are all tired of helping!|
Of helping our only one and true
Motherland!!!!!!

 

Millennial Hypocrisy

To Kosovo they went in haste
But Sierra Leone they leave to waste
The world cried to see white refugees
But did they cry to see black amputees?

God loves both blacks and whites
But why don't we stop the fight?
The West will help Africa they say
But Africa will have to pay

Black blood will have to flow
The world will come to know
How weapons and ammunition come from the west
And kill and maim Africa's best

Here once stood a village
Quickly submerged by pillage
There lie many a childhood friend
Who pale death did befriend

She was raped in front of her husband
And then woke up to find the head of her husband
In her soiled lap
She gave it a tap

Alas! He had been beheaded!
Yes! He had been beheaded!
With a dull machete!!
Yes! With a dull machete!!

And now they come to keep the peace
Oh my sierra leone ! rest in piece!!
Soloja never wanted to see you in pieces
But Judas has sent you a lot of kisses!!