The New Breed

They are in...
The heirs of today and tomorrow
Successors to the system,
The legacy bequeathed
From generation to generation
In never-ending succession.

They are in...
Taking over in full cry
What is theirs by right--
A viable and unenviable bequeath.
Theirs to either destroy or increase;
But what legacy?
A tottering society, sick and rotten
Like a reed swept by the currents
Of a slow-moving stream;
An antiquated system in their lot
An order of reactionary beings
Who watch, eagle-eyed,
With ever-counting apprehension,
The moving hands of the clock
That signifies the ushering-in
Of the new breed.

They are in...
The heirs of today and tomorrow
Across the land, in 'citadels'
Of imposing brick and paintwork,
In ramshackle wooden structures
And unsightly mud edifice
Shells of academic instruction
They receive the suck
In preparation for their inheritance
Behind these thin facades
Of delusive citadels
The spirit of the youth
With gathering force and fire
Seeks outlets of expression;
And with revolutionary fire
Threatens to engulf society,
The symbolism of their legacy.
But, what legacy?
A legacy of traditional archaisms
Of repressive codes and modes
That tend to stifle change
And its senseless violence
The offspring of alien influence
Satisfying reactionary egotisms
Ridiculing the new breed.

They are in...
The heirs of today and tomorrow
Their voices cry out
Against the decadent old order;
An order thoroughly permeated
With rank social corruption
And bland bare-faced hypocrisy:
A society gasping for breath
Struggling to shake off the stranglehold
And the yoke of stagnant ideals.
"Let the wind of change blow"
Is the cry of the new breed;
The wisdom of ancestors shall guide
The direction of the wind;
But let it not dictate
And obstruct the wind's free will.
The doings of yesterday
Shall have meaning and relevance
Today and tomorrow, and tomorrow's next.
In the growing light of change
And a new, clean, vigorous order--
The order of the new breed
Shaping and moulding thier bequeath
Not upon accidents of birth
But in love and dedication

                                                           J. AMOAKO-GLOVER