July 2020

My Letter to a Rose

The Rose that Grew from Concrete

By Tupac Shakur

Did you hear about the rose that grew

From a crack in the concrete?

Proving nature’s law is wrong it

Learned to walk without having feet.

Funny it seems but by keeping its dreams

It learned to breathe fresh air.

Long live the rose that grew from concrete

When no one else cared.

Agogo Rose,

I remember the day you returned to Malawi… I remember it so clearly, so vividly, even though I was just a little girl then. I remember that day, it was the same day you walked into my life. What I remember most is your grace, your beauty, your long hair. I remember your lipstick. I remember we were speaking to each other in English. These things stood out to my young mind because you were unlike any other old woman I had ever encountered. What I knew then is what I was told: You had been away for a very long time, unable to return. But now you were back. To me at that young age and throughout the years that would follow, you were an anomaly, to me you were astonishing.

What I would later find out was you were indeed not regular, you were far from typical. It wasn’t your long hair, your lipstick, or your command of the English language, no. It was the strength of your character, your tenacity, your inability to retreat, that is what set you apart. That character is what bore the nation a hero.

Maybe heroes are born, maybe they become pressed, crushed like a diamond must in order to find its value, overcoming adverse conditions. I don’t know… But whatever the case, what is now undeniable is you are a hero. An example for the generations to come. There are three words that come to mind: commitment, sacrifice, and principles.

I hope I can live up to the standards that you set. I hope the nation and our leaders can live up to the standards that you set. I hope that we as Malawians and contributors to the global village can learn and find a way to live up to your example.

Now I am no longer that little girl you met upon your return from exile. I am now a woman, a wife, a mother with the same dream you had. A dream to see a nation succeed. With your dream inside of me, I have the same fight. Maybe you put it there, maybe it was there all along, but what I know is: to me, you are strength, to me you are the epitome of grace, resilience, and perseverance.

I am forever changed by you Agogo.

Love always,

Lomuthi