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Africa
Dedicated to Mme. Leony Armattoe
I once saw a maiden dark and comely,
Sitting by the wayside, sad and lonely.
Oh! Pretty maiden, so dark and comely,
Why sit by the wayside, sad and lonely?
'I am neither sad nor lonely,' she said,
'But living, sir, among the deaf and dumb;
Relentlessly watching these shameless dead
Makes my warm heart grow very cold and numb.'
— R. E. G. Armattoe
Summary
“Africa” by R. E. G. Armattoe is an allegory about the African continent and its people. It uses the story of a woman to talk about the whole continent of Africa.
At the beginning of the poem, the poetic persona encounters a beautiful dark-skinned woman, sitting alone by the road, whom he assumes is sad and lonely.
He asks her why she sits “by the wayside, sad and lonely.” But she surprises him with her refutation of the assumption that she is sad or lonely. She then explains what is really going on: that she is surrounded by people who can’t and won’t listen to her (the “deaf and dumb”) — “shameless dead” people whose very sight makes her “warm heart grow very cold and numb.”
The maiden is Africa personified as a woman, and the poetic persona’s assumption is emphatic about the misconceptions about Africa. People often think Africa is sad or helpless, but that’s not true. The real problem is that many people don’t listen to Africa and understand it. Africa is surrounded by people who don’t seem to care about its problems. The vested interests in Africa just go to conceal this nonchalance.
“Africa” by R. E. G. Armattoe is thus a poem that wants us to see Africa differently — not as a sad, lonely place, but as a strong voice that needs to be listened to and understood.
Further Reading:
- Poem: “The Way I Would Like to Die” by R. E. G. Armattoe
- Poem: “Servant-Kings” by R. E. G. Armattoe
- Africa by David Diop
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