Botswana

I am the African face of  peace -of leisurely existence-of  quite pouring  calm flowing  through  the veins the

 the walk the stoop  the nod  of my citizens
The eye that has seen  poverty,war,disease in my neighbors and at times in my self
defining the dark shadow that has hung on the lips of men  about my continent
I have seen my men,my women,my children and their children's children succumb and rise to a fight 

I have seen  greying women's heads balancing  buckets of wisdom,and neck lines of beads and new arms  of babies of  hope
I have seen the languid spirit of my people killed by the disease, knitted back  together to life to a perfect quilt of  hope and hope and hope that defies human reason
Forming one  shield  of  a united mind   against the disease that has defined my people

My people though tormented are a generation of men calm in spirit -of tolerance and tolerance and zero violence-of no triggers and shots-no stabs no cuts - no blood shed 

A rare kind of gentleness- that stirs the fibers-the veins-the heart beats of men pilgrimaging from lands  afar

My  land has accommodated foreign men  like long lost brothers,taken in strangers and friends -acquitances and fleeing man

Made a home to some and left a permanent mark on those who chose to traverse through me

 from the north the east the west the south to every nook and crook of my 224 610 or so square miles

I am dignity dignified by the straight backbone that holds my country men upright
The pride in my people's eyes the warmth the welcome the humility the kindness the fibre that knits stranger with friend in the rare spirit of  Dumela-o tsogile jang?

The ancient handshake-the bended knee-the padded palms of To buchila mperi-to borrowed fists and chest touches in cities and modern towns of  westernized cultures

I am  Bushman-Kgalagadi-Herero-Kgatla-Ngwato-Kalanga

One blood line of former Bechuanaland flowing through the veins of all my people

I am  generations of successful leaders, of Seretse-Ketumile-Mogae

of an offspring of a rare type of democracy of no human life lost-of no political strife 

I am the eye startling beauty of my Okavango Zebras,of the winding swamps,the curvacious dunes of the Kgalagadi ,The gemstone lying deep in  the south landlocked in the center of  my continent  

The resolute resilience embedded in the DNA of my Kgalagadi Cactus, Of lion leader pack  pride

and salt lands of the Makgadikgadi, I am Botswana

The land of Peace ,calm quite and hope
of various cultures merged and coexisting side by side
I am Botswana

inpired by Thabo Mbeki's Speech  --I am African