Ode to the Black Stars AFCON 2012

By Kwesi Atta Sakyi

21st January 2012

______________________________________________________________________________

AMBITION

Of Sterner stuff ambition is made,

It springs forth from deep wells of vision,

The will to succeed never left to wilt,

On and on it rides to the hilt,

Till the ultimate goal it abides,

Ghana Black Stars, Seek greater sights

Go for gold!

______________________________________________________________________________

Loftier goals set and kept,

The soul to glorious heights leapt,

By dint of hard work, gold to mint,

A glorious vista to glint,

A chink in the curtain of life,

Play your hearts out for love of wife,

Ghana Black Stars, to greater heights delight,

Go for gold!

______________________________________________________________________________

Nay, noble thoughts your ambition to clothe,

Abnormal and base ambition our forerunners sought not,

To such ilk, they steered nautically north at nought

Giving wide berth at 180 degrees to foul play,

Ghana Black Stars, to golden sands ascend like lightning,

Go for gold!

______________________________________________________________________________

Cast out fear and boldness escort,

When thy aim a noble thought,

AFCON 2012 gold cup to covet,

Vainglory and coarse play put to zero,

Great ambition put to hero,

Collectively play a team,

Ghana Black Stars in a tight incline,

Take flight to higher heights,

Go for gold!

______________________________________________________________________________

Bold as a lion, thy prey to pursue with eagle sight,

When glorious ambition courts thy thoughts,

Sit not tight,

With both hands, get to grab the title on sight,

And hugely hug it in thy team’s bosom,

Nor like Lot’s wife look back and a

Salt pillar be petrified or gorgonised,

Onward forge, onward forge, forge ahead,

No looking back on lost laurels,

Nor brooding over what might have been,

Ghana Black Stars, oseee yie eee!

Go for gold!

______________________________________________________________________________

Apply thyself to strenuous deeds,

Relentlessly pursue the goals, be on the spot,

Don’t you know you are deemed ‘hot’,

In thought and in deed, the nation of

Ghana wishes you Godspeed,

Take one step at a time,

Deep in action steep thyself,

Play your hearts out for love of sport,

Till the small deeds accumulate to the goal pot,

Then harvest the gold cup and the medals’ slot,

Then behold, beside thyself intoxicated with success,

Ghana Black Stars ascend to the heights,

And on reaching climax or zenith,

Descend home to acclaim and come to roost,

But remember, only go for gold!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eleven wise men steadfastly stood,

Their ambition ground for to claim,

From ground zero, upwards they built to hero,

In the end, sat they then at summit of success,

Of their cherished skyscraper tower of ambition,

Surveying new vistas in the chinks

Provided by the vast curtain of life,

Only the unadventurous never ventures

To cross the line to realms of roaring success,

These, pusillanimously pursue their aim

With diffidence, trepidation, and temerity,

Follow your dream; drift along in the stream,

Keep ambition flame close to reality,

With imagination, creativity and discipline

Rekindle at full throttle-

Yeah, that spark of divine nativity,

Believe in yourself you can, God willing,

Go for gold!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With hope, faith and hard work,

Reap inevitable resounding results,

Brood not on detractors nor doubting Thomases,

Ambition, the cordite that ignites motivation

Yielding insight into glorious futures –

Ambition, the spark that mushrooms

Into a nuclear-like explosion,

Once in motion, knows no breaching

Nor brooking in its unfolding blossom,

It grows astronomically in fusion and fission,

Yielding and yielding at its fruition -

Ghana Black Stars, go for gold!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Then Ghana eagle comes full circle

To Land in might,

And at night, owls and bats of darkened

Ensigns are in sight,

They take to their devious devilish deeds,

Only to be exposed by twinkling, twinkling stars,

At daybreak by the sharp talons of the

Rising sun-

Then dissipating into nothingness,

The forces of evil disappear,

The Black Stars emerge in the dawn,

To announce the onset of the

Beginning of a brand new breaking day,

Whence the eagle takes again to

The sky in his majestic forays –

King of all he surveys –

Black Stars, go for gold!

By Kwesi Atta Sakyi

21st January 2012