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Echoes of Memory 4
Saturday, April 12, 2025
Williams Nkurunziza Williams Nkurunziza
Williams Nkurunziza

Memory serves as the bedrock of individual and collective identities, anchoring societies and nations in the turbulent seas of history.

In the aftermath of genocidal atrocities, where the very fabric of society is torn asunder, memory stands as a bastion of resistance against oblivion.

For it is through memory that we honor the victims, learn from the past, and chart a path towards reconciliation and renewal.

As the timeless George Santayana adage goes, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Memory, therefore, is not merely an act of nostalgia, but a sacred duty, a beacon of light guiding men and nations through the darkest of times to a point of historical and moral clarity, as key safeguards against repeating past horrors.

The following poem, inspired by Rwanda’s example, explores a new angle to echoes of memory.

Optimism Blooms

The muted drums

Of remembrance

Fill the air,

A somber rhythm

Echoing our despair.

Each beat, a whisper;

A painful, grieving sigh,

Of lives extinguished

Beneath a clueless sky.

Children's laughter

Silenced by the slaughter;

A million lives;

Of youths and loves

Lost in blazes

Of inhuman decrees.

Each breath lost

A seed sown at cost

In fields of sorrow

Watered by the blood

Shed by hands of hatred.

The world turned away

As brutality held sway

Its ears closed

As a million died;

Its voice for sense

Silenced by indifference.

Time has past

Nudging hope to last.

Yet, echoes of barbarity

Still linger without clarity,

In answer to the wear

Rooted in the heart's despair.

But from these tremors

Of grief, a new day springs,

A fragile blossom

Pushing through ugly things.

Optimism in bloom

Weaving a hopeful thread,

Through fractured memories

And dreams newly bred.

Hope's tender shoots

Defying shadowed gloom,

Reaching for the sun;

Dispelling threats of doom.

For interwoven

With the shadows

Of a chilling past

Are endings of sorrows

And compassion’s thrust,

Washing away tears

Erasing doubts

And chocking fears

As grit emerges

And whispers softly

Calling on the best

Of the human race.

To act in echo

To the call of the sages

To forever

Hold forth

And honor

Their memory.

The author is Rwanda’s former Ambassador to Turkey

April 2025