Seems like everyone leaves and nobody stays I’m such a mess and I feel out of place Nowhere is home and I’ll never belong I’m just passing through, and then I’ll move on
And I know it’s better to love and to lose and to hurt than to keep my distance
So take my hand, let’s run away Tell me your story, I’ll share in your pain Dive in the deep end, trust without fear And we’ll make this time worth all the tears Please don’t keep your distance
There’s not enough time to hide who you are So show us your bruises, your burns and your scars And we will show you ours We don’t keep our distance
Take my hand, let’s run away Tell me your story, I’ll share in your pain Dive in the deep end, trust without fear And we’ll make this time worth all the tears There’s no room for shallow here Please don’t keep your distance
It’s time to say goodbye again
I stare out the airplane window A hundred memories come back Tears flood my eyes and I don’t hold them back Each moment creates more distance between us But I’m glad I know while I was there I loved With everything I had, I didn’t keep my distance, Didn’t take the easy way out, I didn’t keep my distance
Hello I’m sorry I might take things a little too fast It’s just because I’ve learned that nothing lasts Please don’t keep your distance There’s not enough time Because everything changes, everything changes And I’m already thinking of goodbye Soon I’ll say goodbye again
And nowhere is home and I’ll never belong Nowhere is home and I’ll never belong We love and we lose We always say goodbye Nowhere is home, nowhere is home
Wind in our hair, hearts in the sky Salt on our tongues, sun in our eyes As the ocean flies by And we’re young and free And our love runs deep And our pain runs deep ‘Cause we feel everything, everything
And we will Never have this moment again We’ll never have this moment again
The sky is dark, then bursts with color All the sparks start off another circle in time And we look up at the lights And we’re young and free And our hope runs deep And our hurt runs deep ‘Cause we feel everything, everything
And we will Never have this moment again We’ll never have this moment again
A piece of paper in your hand A piece of paper in my hand Different paths and different plans Can’t we just stop time And hold on to this moment Like we’re holding on to each other? Let’s forget just for a second life goes on ‘Cause in this moment We’re young and free And the tears flow free
And it’s bittersweet
We feel everything And we will Never have this moment again
So close your eyes and take a picture with your mind Close your eyes and take a picture with your mind So you’ll remember what it’s like Right now We have everything, everything Everything, everything
I don’t usually ever act this way But they don’t know that Lately I just haven’t felt the same But they don’t know that They say this is freedom, spread your wings You can be whoever you want to be When nobody knows you Nobody knows me
I’ve gotten good at starting over But I’m tired of moving on And counting down the days til Everything is gonna change and Another part of me is gone
The other night I just fell apart And they all know that Lately I have had a heavy heart And they all know that They say it gets better, give it time But I’m running out and I feel like I Don’t even know me I don’t even know me
I’m tired of starting over I’m numb from moving on Packing up my things and seeing what the next place brings and Another part of me is gone
Soon I’ll be starting over And letting go and moving on So I am on my knees Praying that before I leave This place will feel like home
I’m packing up my things You’ll always be a part of me Every time I leave I leave behind a part of me And Another part of me is gone
They say Africa is A permanent thing, That you can leave it behind but It won’t leave You behind I don’t know if that’s true
They say Africa is Always accepting, Open-armed to welcome Even the ones who’ve been gone The longest I don’t know if that’s true
They say Africa is Undeniable in your blood, That it cannot be forgotten, That children of Africa Can only grow up to be Africans No matter how life goes
I was a child of Africa. The language is slow on my tongue now, And culture comes hesitantly, in bursts Of memory that are ashamed of their weakness In the safety of my home I am still African but outside I have forgotten it all…
Africa, you promised to be permanent! Africa, I promised to be always yours, With the red dust of the village running Through my veins until I die but Memory is hard.
They say Africa is Permanent, that it Will not forget you even if You cannot remember but I guess skin colour was always The dividing line.
It is time now To write All the words I have been saving up For such a time as this I didn’t know they were there until now, but It’s time
I would have thought that This would be A poem of an African, A heart mired in the dark continent Writing with all the pent-up longing Of a people suppressed But It’s not.
There are those who write about Africa From without, Gathering together the images of starvation And poverty and beauty to Present us with a people of natural savagery I am not like them.
There are those who write of Africa From within, breathing Out the dusty promise of better Things to come for those who hold onto Native pride I am not like them.
I am writing of Africa As a denizen, a foreigner who has seen. Africa has made me who I am and when I close my eyes I can still see Vli Falls misting on the Mountain and Da Vise squinting up at the sky looking For rain and Asigame in a cacophony of noise Surrounding me. Those things will never be lost.
But I don’t belong there Anymore
So I would have always thought This poem would be Written in the heart of an African But I am five years away now and I have discovered my blood runs red Rather than Ghanaian. I’m a citizen of the world and I can’t Be constrained to any singular land So This is a poem to say Africa, I am always yours but never Yours alone And I’m sorry.
Will you take my words All the same?
I want to say Thank you Thank you to the bright blue sky at Mr. Gold’s house and the grey-blue of Helekpe Thank you to the green carpet grass of the Coca-cola house in Ho and Thank you to the green walls at Efo Dela’s house Thank you to orange sunsets above a red dirt road And pink sunrises driving through Pilo Town Thank you to grey toll tickets and yellow MTN buildings, to purple kente cloth and Black mud.
Thank you to the colours of Africa that shine Dusty and vibrant to weave a pattern through All of childhood…though I crossed continents The airport always had white tile floors when I Returned and I Counted on that
So in my dreams the line of dancers stomp Their feet through the dust With coloured cloths and white handkerchiefs Swinging and I Know all the words to the songs Because the rhythm of the drums Is my heartbeat
