Today, I would like to share a poem by one of Angola’s most prolific writer and its first president, Agostinho Neto. This poem, “Havemos de Voltar” / “We Shall Return“, speaks to all people, and all times.
Back when this was written from his prison cell in Lisbon, the poem symbolized the return of lost sons, of exiles, of freedom fighters, and the return to their homeland, their loved ones, and the re-attribution of their resources back to them. Today, the message means pretty much the same: a return to liberty (African countries’ freedom from the oppressors), economic freedom (FCFA, the slave currency), and even freedom to all immigrants around the globe who run away from their country because of poverty, war, etc. So to all those seeking a return to peace, to love, a return home, here is Agostinho Neto‘s message.
| Havemos de voltar
Às casas, às nossas lavras ÀS nossas terras Às nossas minas de diamantes Aos nossos rios, nossos lagos À frescura da mulemba À marimba e ao quissange À bela pátria angolana Havemos de voltar |
We shall return
To the houses, to our crops, To our lands To our mines of diamonds To our rivers, our lakes To the shade of the mulemba To the marimba and the quissange To our beautiful Angolan homeland We shall return |
From Sacred Hope – Poems by Agostinho Neto, published by the Angolan Writers Union, 1986, sponsored by the National Bank of Angola. Translated to English by Marga Holness.
African Heritage 
I was actually looking for Agostinho Neto’s ‘February’ which is probably the one I like most
among Neto’s poems. That said, now that I’ve read Havemos de Voltar, I am struck by the
calm defiance and evocative patriotism expressed by the author. And they did return.
LikeLike
Beautiful Jean-Paul… I will try to find Agostinho Neto’s poem ‘February’
LikeLike