This powerful poem invokes and embraces the spirituality of the Diaspora while encouraging cultural enlightenment. It is the first poem in the book, Lord I'm Dancin' As Fast As I Can.

Strong Hands of Mother Africa
© By J. Joy “Sistah Joy” Matthews Alford

Strong hands of Mother Africa
Awaken places deep inside me
Where my ancestors dwell
Like distant echoes, your heart-beat
Reverberates off Kilimanjaro’s mountain-tops
Pulses down the Nile
Crosses the Sudan
And flows into my soul

Strong hands of Mother Africa
Call my absent spirit
To return and commune with the elders
Those who sojourned before me
Now light my path and
Await my homecoming

Strong hands of Mother Africa
Reveal to me my history
Teach me the ways of my true homeland;
Unmask the mysteries and tragedies
Of this altered consciousness
Awaken in my mind and body
The un-ripened seeds of truth,
Power, and pride
Solve for me the paradox of my mortality.

Strong hands of Mother Africa
My soul dances to your ancient rhythm
Pulsing, ever pulsing, through the veins of time
Teach me to beat Africa drums
So that I, too, may guide
Another absent spirit to your shores
So that I, too may guide another absent spirit
Home!