How I wish this world had eyes
For it to see my people in that darkness
To see them struggling and toiling
For a morsel to numb the gnawing hunger
To see them gorged by some mystical pestilence
Whole generations drowning in inimical waters
In a cannonade of man-made mire
How long shall we justify the pain?
Rise Oh Africa rise.

Stolen, chained and flogged we cried
Summoning the one great creator we knew
The one who punished us for the wrong we did
The same who blessed us for the good we did
But today we still cry, for we don’t understand
Why Oh creator, Why and for what indiscretions
Do we endure such long punishments?
Rise Oh Lion of Hearts, rise.

We sang, our very own songs.
Songs of joy, songs of life
For the rain that showered our arduous sweat
For the harvests that brought surfeit,
For good health, he always showered us with plenty.
Where then did go the spirit of Africa?
If you are asleep, it’s been too long a sleep
Your children are being ravished by a morose satrap
Rise our greatness, rise Oh king of the soil

Your children cry, their souls thirst
Cool their aching throats, craving
Caking in the depths of the salty oceans
Let them rise with the winds
The storms that ravage the better world
Let their anger be head, hold your spears high
Let them fight for their innocence
Rise oh Land of Glory, sanitize your salted wounds.

For centuries they have toiled, creatures of servility
Working and slaving for a world beyond their reach
A world that disappears with every drip of their sweat

Tears trickle down into a perfidious abyss
The last they know of a world free and fair.
These tears they cry, keep cutting deep
Corroding and maiming the souls of their souls
Oh Mamma Africa, do you hear their mournful devotions.

They have ingested every culture so imposed
Withstood every experiment to better the human race
Mesmerized the world with their resilience.
But deep down their souls cry, revere,
To their wounded pride, a lost identity
They refuse to die silently, to cry in vain
This is your time, your opera
Yours to touch with your rustic incandescence
Rise Oh Africa Rise.