I Want to Go to Keta by Kobena Eyi Acquah

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I want to go to Keta

before it's washed away

Before the palm-trees wither

And drawn outside the bay.

I want to go to Keta

Where boys drum all the day

And the girls dance agbadza

To keep the tears away.

I want to go to Keta

While yet they live who care

to point out like a star

that frothing spot out there

Where they would sit with dada

Those days the sea was land

I want to go to Keta

While yet there's place to stand.

I want to go to Keta

before the tenderness

of grief so keen and bitter

chills to cold callousness

and the vagueness of laughter

drowns the shared joy of pain.

I want to go to Keta -

It might not long remain.