O, Zimbabwe!
Let Zimbabwe be Zimbabwe again
Let her flame-lilies come to full bloom
And sway in the sun
O, how Zimbabwe staggers, like an unrepentant drunk! How her face is stained from douches gone awry!
All her people pant and sigh; with their souls twisted inward for all they know is bitterness.
Their dreams have been reduced to seeking bread with tears on their cheeks; there is none to comfort them from their toil.
Like her ruins, she stands shattered hoping for starlight to pop from the azure and cure all, how she limps and spouts expletives in the face of the world yet her children feed on wounds and handouts.
O, Zimbabwe, where is the dream of your beginning! You, the land of stones. What happened to the promise of the beginning?
Let Zimbabwe be Zimbabwe again
Let her flame-lilies come to full bloom
And sway in the sun
Let her fish-eagles sing a chorus of freedom. From her earthen highlands to the city of kings
O, Zimbabwe, let my land be the land where the incense of peace wafts like a silent butterfly
O, Zimbabwe, come back
Like a mantra in the rain
Now, wipe those ashes off your face
Rise again, rise again
Let all the aggression, pain, suffering, and frustration
Wash away like a handful of sand
O, yes, Zimbabwe
Find that peace within yourself to grow as silently as a flame-lily behind hard rocks.
