CRY OF THE RE-AWAKENED CHILD

INTRODUCTION

‘CRY OF THE RE-AWAKENED CHILD’ reflects some of the experiences I encountered as I underwent my metamorphosis from infancy to adulthood. Certainly, the positive forces of love, creation, spirituality and tradition I welcomed with open arms.  However, despite my resistance, I could not overcome the destructive forces of hatred, greed and injustice.  Notwithstanding, I developed the tenacity to survive all of them. I believe I was confronted with these challenges of life so that I could be molded into the human being that I am today.

First, to know that life was given to me from the union of a Jewish father and a Moslem mother has been a religious and a spiritual blessing for me. This union, I believe, was fortified by divine love; hence, enabling it to overcome the divisive dogma of religion and creating a life such as mine. It is truly a blessing, because it awakened me to the essence of love and its will to bridge the human hearts against all odds. It further solidified in my heart the belief that divine love embraces all of God’s creation and that it is the true answer to all that ails humanity. Hence, I have allowed these blessings of mine - the essence of divine love and the will for the creation and preservation of life - to permeate the theme of some of the poems in ‘CRY OF THE RE-AWAKENED CHILD’

Next, notwithstanding, the divine love that glued the union that gave me birth, nature still had to take its course. My father, a German national but of a Hebrew ancestry practiced Judaism as a religious persuasion. Because of such ancestry and religious persuasion, he had to escape from Germany to avoid the German Jewish Holocaust. In his escape, he was able to find a safe haven in the Republic of Liberia, West Africa. At the end of the Second World War and the German Jewish Holocaust, my father, acting on the advice of his physician and closed friends, decided to return to his native land, the Federal Republic of West Germany. Though it was sad for him to leave my siblings and me behind, nature had to take its course. In retrospect, it was a blessing in disguise for me. Left in the care of my mother, I had the good fortune to experience the value and meaning of the African philosophy of the extended family. I lived and breathed the tradition of my maternal parent. Through the help of my maternal grandfather, grandmother, granduncles, uncles,

aunts, cousins and family friends, I was brought up to value my African culture. The definition of manhood in the African family was made clear to me. My inter-relationships with God, the ancestors, the elders and the environment were constantly ingrained into my head, mind and spirit. So, as you read ‘CRY OF THE RE-AWAKENED CHILD’ you will feel the impact of some of these values passed unto me and perhaps hear the echo of some of the voices in my past.

Further, at the time of my birth, my native land found itself plunged into a turbulent political atmosphere. The leaders of the upper class were confronted with grievous differences and political aspirations. The result of such crisis lead to the murder of leaders of the opposition party and a critical disharmony among the upper class and the rest of the inhabitants of the nation. As a progressive Liberian young adult, I tried to understand why a Liberian Iron Ore Miners’ demonstration for money owed them by a foreign interest turned violent and bloody. I tried to rationalize why in this conflict, it seemed the Liberian government did not protect the rights of its working citizens against a foreign interest.  Instead, it sent its soldiers to beat and torture the workers into submission. As if these experiences did not suffice, after leaving my native land to continue my academic pursuit abroad, I was forced to live one of the worst nightmares of my adult life. Again my native land had stumbled into a political and civil upheaval. This time it was the children of conscience from the upper class in union with the children of the under class who were rising against the political and economic status quo that were impinging upon the daily life of the citizenry. As an ultimate result of this young people’s uprising, the government was overthrown and most of its officials including the president were shot by firing squad. Lastly, the final emotional blow that my native land dealt to me, that almost drove me to the ‘nut-house’, was its plunge into a civil war that devastated the nation for almost a decade. In reality, the emotional scar of the human carnage, the cultural upheaval and the spiritual disharmony that resulted from the civil war is still embedded in my soul. Hence, as you read or recite ‘Why the Revolution’, ‘The Vision Continues’, ‘Wisdom in Exile’ and other poems in this collection you will hear my lamentation over the negative impact of hatred, greed and injustice. I hope that when you have heard my cry, you will join the search for a positive resolution to the problems that lend themselves to such torment of the human soul.

In conclusion, ‘CRY OF THE RE-AWAKENED CHILD’ is a collection of poems expressing what ultimately matters – the sentiment of victory over evil. It is also provocative and consuming. It will have you engulfed by the endearing spirit of love and flying high on the wings of joy it unfolds. Further, this collection of poems will calmly release you from the anguish of hate and joyfully remove your tormented soul out of the somberness of sorrow. ‘CRY OF THE RE-AWAKENED CHILD’ will awaken you to the plight of humanity. It will constantly remind you of your bonding with the ancestors on a spiritual realm. No doubt, ‘CRY OF THE RE-AWAKENED CHILD’ honors GOD, our creator, mother-earth, our nurturer and the children, who represent our tomorrow. Enjoy it.