Eritrea, Eritrea

(Notwithstanding the severe dictatorship it has since become within two decades since its hard won independence from Ethiopia, this tribute to its victory in 1993 according to my information then,

stands as a dedication at that time,
and in heartfelt memorium now, to my very dear friend, Hanna Ehtiopia Berhane (d. Aug. 1013),
twenty years following that event.)

Mother Africa!    look upon your children,
have they not tasted the blood of their suffering and indignity
and lived?
Have they not responded with grace and more dignity?
Wherefrom, O Mother?

Was it because your very milk runs through their bones,
through those very feet with which they stood their ground,
and they know it?

Was it your love whoch gave their fight such boldness, did they inherit
from your bosom the richness of Being, to show such clemency
toward the aggressor whom they wore out with the enduring power of
their prayers and the sincerity of their faith?

What sort of a people, these lions who trust in the Lamb, this little Israel,
with a name like a beautiful woman?    Eritrea   Eritrea   Eritrea  .  .  .
daughter of Africa, a little jewel in the ear of the Mother Continent,
glistening in the light of the Son, victorious.