Who
was Gladys Casely-Hayford?
1. She
was born on the 11th of May 1904
2. She
was born in the Gold Coast where is presently known as Ghana
3. She
is credited as the first author to write in Krio language
4. She
sometimes wrote under the name ‘Aquah Laluah’
5. She
could sing, dance and write poetry at an early age
6. She
did her tertiary education in Europe
7. After
her tertiary education, she traveled for a while with a Berlin Jazz band as a
dancer
8. On
her return to Africa, she became a teacher at the Girls’ Vocational School
Freetown, Sierra Leone
9. She
taught African folklore and Literature
10. She
celebrated her blackness with unique poems
11. Not
much of her poetry was published when she was alive
12. Her
poems fiercely promoted Africa and the African
“Rejoice”
Rejoice and shout with
laughter
Throw all your burdens down,
If God has been so gracious
As to make you black or brown.
For you are a great nation,
A people of great birth.
For where would spring the flowers
if God took away the earth?
Rejoice and shout with laughter
Throw all your burdens down
Yours is a glorious heritage.
If you are black, or brown.
This
poem celebrates being African. She celebrates the skin colour of Africans which
is seen as ugly or below the standard of beauty by Westerners. At the time of
this poem, blackness was almost a criminal offence as black people were
oppressed, suppressed and repressed. Hayford celebrated the black skin colour
as being the best skin colour. She compares the skin colour of the African to
the earth. This poem places blacks at the pedestal of being the mother of all
living things. She stresses that without the blacks, the earth will not
flourish.
In
celebrating being black here, she rewrites the biblical narrative that placed
the Israelites as the beloved of God. She emphasizes that just as the Bible
praised the Israelites as being chosen by God, Africans are also chosen
specially as a beloved race.
“Freetown”
Freetown, when God made thee, he made the
soil alone
Then
threw the rich remainder in the sea
Small inlets cradled He, in Jet black
stone
Small bays of transcient blue He lulled
to sleep
Within jet rocks, filled from the
Atlantic deep.
Then God let loose wee harbingers of
sing.
He scattered palms profusely over the
ground
Then grew tall grasses, who in happy
mirth
Reached up to kiss each palm tree that
they found.
‘This is my gem! God whispered; ‘this
shall be
To me a jewel in blue turquoise set’
Thus spake the mouth of life’s Eternity;
There God couched, lion-like, each mighty
hill.’
Silent, they keep their watch
over Freetown still
Silent-
Freetown
celebrates the city Freetown in Sierra Leone. She places Freetown as the
biblical land “flowing with milk and honey.” She describes Freetown as the land
chosen by God just as God had chosen Jerusalem in the Bible as His own city.
“Nativity”
This
poem is perhaps the poem that deeply rewrites the biblical narrative. It re-narrates
the birth of Jesus as the birth of an African child.
Within
a native hut, ere stirred the dawn
Unto
the pure One was an infant born,
These
two lines remind us of Jesus being born in a manger. The poet rewrites this as
an African born in a hut. Mary the mother of Jesus is regarded as the virgin
but this poem places her as the African mother whom she refers to as the ‘pure
One’.
Laid
on his father’s home-tanned deerskin hide,
The
Babe still slept by all things glorified
These
lines remind us that as the bible describes the birth of Christ in a manger
being born amidst the straw and hay for the animals, the African baby is born
on a home-tanned deer skin owned by his father. The Child Jesus is seen as
glorious, so is this child born to his African parents.
Spirits
of black bards burst their bonds and sang
‘peace
upon earth’ until the heavens rang.
All
the black babies who from earth had fled
Peeped
through the clouds – then gathered round His head,
Telling
of things a baby needs to do,
When
first he opes his eyes on wonder new;
Telling
Him that sleep was sweetest rest,
All
comfort cams from His black mother’s breast
These
lines are the rewriting of the biblical account of angels coming down from
heaven and rejoicing. The Child Jesus is visited by angels and the heavens sang
and there was rejoicing as angels came down to earth and celebrated. Here, the
bards (traditional poets and singers who compose poems and songs to honour and
praise a person) rejoiced till the heavens rang instead of angels as the bible
stated. The souls of black babies also visit the child instead of shepherds.
Their
gift was love, caught from the springing sod,
While
tears and laughter were the gifts of God.
Then
all the Wise Men of the past stood forth,
Filling
the air, East, West, and South and North,
And
told Him of the joy that wisdom brings
To
mortals in their earthly wanderings.
These
lines tell of gifts and the visit of Wise men. The bible records gifts of myrrh,
gold and frankincense but to this African child, Hayford writes of gifts of
love, tears and laughter. The bible tells of wise men from the east who visit
Jesus at His birth, but Hayford rewrites this story and presents wise men from
the four corners of the earth who fill the air just like the angels did fill
the sky in the bible.
The
remaining lines in the poem continue to praise the birth of this child while
portraying the deep sense of communal spirit in the African society, making
great the African wisdom and giving a peep into the birth of a child in Africa.
The
non-Africans might call these poems blasphemy but what stops us from debunking
the myths that demean and are derogatory to the African and his society?
Hayford celebrates the African sensibilities and experiences. She places the
African at the center of all things great. Her poems herald the rebirth of the
glory of Africa and the African. Black is indeed beauty and all things African
are indeed worthy of adoration.
What can you say about these poems by this great poet?
