Who Killed The Drummer Boy?

          who killed the drummer-boy?
          why is the land caged in airy silence?
          why has the mocking beat stopped?

          when we heard the gunshot,
          we saw the earth still fine and bloodless,
          no wails followed... just silence,
          the kind that haunts you like a bitter memory,
          eating up your soul bit by bit
          when we saw the alien iron boots
          scooping up our fathers' dust with no respect,
         we beheld our warrior standing still like frozen horses,
           no attack followed,
          even the drummer boy's eternal drumming came to a tragic halt
           as it soon got wrapped up in the foggy cloud of nothingness, beat by beat
          when our souls were being sold out like the souls of a dancer's feet,
          our past feat and might shrunk to dwarf-mice heights
          till the dawn was done over and over
          and no bird hovered anymore
          it was just total silence,
          the music failed us,
          the drummer-boy left us in the face of defeat,
          no! he is too honourable to be so cowardly

           was it not his music that made us brave in our yesteryears
          when we were the kings of our own castle?
           was he not our guiding light when we lived in forests of glowing leaves?
           was he not the spirit that made us gods in our own sight?
          he can only be dead,
          who has committed this abomination with such audacious defiance?
           who has killed the drummer-boy?

Reviews

[TL Boehm]

this is a formidable write. Powerful and poignant. Well done

[Leslie Philibert]

This is very moving, when you consider how such a fantastic continent like Africa is sadly beset with violence. A young talented poet like Master K-tops gives us hope for a better future.

[Master K-tops]

I am humbled by your kind review, sir.