I Still Stand Poem by Deng Deng Akuien

I am Africa, the phoenix
I have been through the harshest weathers
Fought the wildest beast
Praised in the hands of my children
Seen the past and met the future
Witness generations born and die
I have wept and wept for I see no change
In me, on me events take place, events I dare not say
I am ageless as well as timeless
I am in agony my heart bleeds inside
Drowned in my own blood
Trapped in my own nightmare
I am diseased and cursed
I ask for no sorrow, for I still stand
In the ashes of my death