Kwame Ataapim

Kwame Ataapim was born in famine:
He lost his parents before his birth;
He lost his sight before he could see;
He lost his teeth before he could bite;
He lost his feet before he could walk.

Kwame Ataapim was born in war:
He stood on the rock and split it apart;
He tugged at the rope and tore it in two;
He breathed on the sea and burnt it up;
He gazed at the fire and froze it up.

Kwame Ataapim was born in need:
When they were eating they never called him;
When they were planning he wasn't around;
When they were leaving they didn't see him;
When they were killing they didn't spare him.

Written by D. E. K. Krampah (all right reserved)

The poem was post because of few lessons to be learnt from it.
The poem is a tragic one, it reveals how less concerned African countries are with their masses and the poem didn't fail to reveal the negative effects of war and elements of war. When there is war, there will be needs. When there is war, there will be famine. When there is war, there will be lost of lives, confusion, diseases, etc.

The poem makes us to know how war affected the life of the character (Kwame Ataapim). He suffered multiple disabilities, yet, we could see elements of ability in his disability (stanza 2 of the poem from line 7-10: he stood on the rock and split it apart; he tugged at the rope and tore it in two; he gazed at the fire and froze it up.)

Part of the flavor of the poem is that it will make the reader wonder: how could Kwame Ataapim stand on the rock, when he had "lost his feet before he could walk"? How did he see the fire, when he had "lost his sight before he could see"?