A New Dream Of Politics | Ben Okri | Poetry

They say there is only one way for politics.

That it looks with hard eyes at the hard world

And shapes it with a ruler’s edge,

Measuring what is possible against

Acclaim, support, and votes.

They say there is only one way to dream

For the people, to give them not what they need

But food for their fears.

We measure the deeds of politicians

By their time in power.

But in ancient times they had another way.

They measured greatness by the gold

Of contentment, by the enduring arts,

The laughter at the hearths,

The length of silence when the bards

Told of what was done by those who

Had the courage to make their lands

Happy, away from war, spreading justice

And fostering health,

The most precious of the arts

Of governance.

But we live in times that have lost

This tough art of dreaming

The best for its people,

Or so we are told by cynics

And doomsayers who see the end

Of time in blood-red moons.

Always when least expected an unexpected

Figure rises when dreams here have

Become like ashes. But when the light

Is woken in our hearts after the long

Sleep, they wonder if it is a fable.

Can we still seek the lost angels

Of our better natures?

Can we still wish and will

For poverty’s death and a newer way

To undo war, and find peace in the labyrinth

Of the Middle East, and prosperity

In Africa as the true way

To end the feared tide of immigration?

We dream of a new politics

That will renew the world

Under their weary suspicious gaze.

There’s always a new way,

A better way that’s not been tried before.

culled from theguardian.com


Over the next few months i shall be engaged in the works of three great African writers.

Ben Okri is the first. stay tuned.