New Tongue*
By Elizabeth L. Kamara, Freetown, Sierra Leone
They speak in a new tongue
And dance new dances
Minds battered into new modes and shapes
Their eyes revel in the wonder of the new
Embraced and bound to hearts with impregnable chains
The old songs as disregarded dreams
Remnants of a past.
Ties of family and friendship
Loosened, broken, burnt
The ashes strewn into the bottomless sea
As fishes swim by
Careless of the loss
Mindful of where they dare
A new generation
Careless of bonds
Of family
Of tradition
Of heritage
They care not
Nor revere the old
Their minds turn inwards
Only inwards
Like the insides of clothes
That marry the bodies of mankind
No room for elders
No,
Not even on the edge of their minds
Their ears blocked to the old tongue
And ways of doing things
Glorying in their new newness of a borrowed tongue and culture
Every man
For himself
By himself
Of himself
A strange coldness descending like snow covered mountain
Or like bathing at the back of the house
On a rainy July day
The gusts of wind falling trees
Carting roofs away
Tugging skirts
And swirling debris in the air
Their borrowed shoes dance
Their borrowed minds parted the red sea long ago
They hang the last lock on their culture
And glide into the future
Without a backward glance.
*The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) adopted "New Tongue" for WASSCE 2026-2030.
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