Sierra Leone, my hope, my love! – For those who die for their rights –

Saidu Bangura, August 24, 2020, Praia, Cape Verde.

Home, sweet home, you are my hope –

The hope that one day we will be able

To come home and help our people,

To come build ournation, our hope;

To return and live in our homeland

In peace, in harmony, with love for

Our differences like our landscapes;

To come home and live the diversity

Of cultures, of languages, of people

So diversely diverse but one in unison

Which some haters want to destroy –

In Sierra Leone, my hope, my love!

Home, sweet home, you are my love

The love that makes me yearn, yearn

To come home and help our people

Unfairly manipulated by those they

Entrust with the authority to lead them

To serve them but unjustly send them,

Send them early to their graves, to death:

Death of our flowers, our young men

Shot dead, not protected, by those who

Took an oath to protect lives and property,

Shot dead for daring to stand for their rights –

In Sierra Leone, my home, my hope, my love!

We shall right the wrongs for those who die right –

We shall educate haters the art of love for nation

In Sierra Leone, our homeland, our hope, our love!

Saidu Bangura holds a PhD in Translation, Communication and Culture with a specialty in English (Socio-)Linguistics from the University of Las Palmas, Spain. He is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Cape Verde.