A long hiatus but I’m back on the poem train. I needed to get this off my chest and I’m sure we all have a lot on our chests about Nigeria. I hope my pen can somehow write off your hurt. Titled “Dear Nigeria.” Enjoy!
Dear Nigeria, are you still a giant?
Are you still the pride of the Motherland?
Does your roar still send shivers?
Can we still call you, Mother?
Is there a sliver of good left in your heart?
Dear Nigeria, how did you lose touch with the torch?
How do you leave bloom for gloom?
I remember you dashing on the runway
Now you’re coasting on the crossroads
An onion fomenting tears no one asked for
Dear Nigeria, you’ve brought tears to our eyes
Caused bleeding in our hearts
Lies to our ears
Poisoned our lips
And now we don’t even recognize our own skin
Dear Nigeria, are you still green?
You wear a coat but without arms
The greatness of the land have become a distant land
Your kids have become your parents
And your home, a madhouse
Dear Nigeria, you’re out of control
How can we call you Father when you don’t even own the land?
You say it’s unity in diversity
A travesty of unity
Clearly, it’s delusion in unity
Dear Nigeria, are you still an eagle?
Who clipped your wings?
Get up and sour!
The sky have become your sands
And the sands, your limit
Dear Nigeria, how did you get here?
How are your children still peasants in a castle?
Are you still a royal?
How do animals run your kingdom?
Are you just a king without his crown?
Dear Nigeria, why does your assembly lack order?
Your lawmakers have become lawbreakers
The army would rather breach than bridge security
The police have become scavengers rather than avengers
Even your doctors can’t figure out your diagnosis
Dear Nigeria, why are your children out of school?
How did you graduate with honours in ignorance?
For decades, you’ve lied to your future, regurgitated your past whilst sabotaging your present
How can they be leaders of tomorrow when today is not even guaranteed?
A Nigeria where yesterday is today and tomorrow
Dear Nigeria, will your elections ever be credible?
When the electoral commission is a corrupt profession
Your people have lost faith as it has become their fate
Or perhaps their fate is as a result of their faith?
The more we pray, the more you prey
An election carefully strategized to ostracize a dead horse
Devised to simply incentivize the rippled youths
You exploit an uneducated man and pride yourself in wisdom
You adorn your proposals with ribbons and confetti
Only for us to open your boxes and find out it’s a curse
Dear Nigeria, even when you rise, you fall
How come your price never falls?
Even when your prize on a free fall
You take away my right to speak
You pick and choose the birds you shoot at their peak
Right to free speech says your constitution
But I speak and I get isolated in an institution
I’m no criminal but you won’t even let me finish my sentence
Free but still a slave
Independent yet dependent
Anyone who criticize gets the bars
Maybe I should have used a gun not a bar
Even when clearly, you haven’t raised the bar
Now I’m here making a case and I wasn’t even called to bar
Damn, I’ve taken too many shots I should move on to the next bar
Dear Nigeria, how do you exercise authority without true power?
Maybe the only way to stay in power is to keep out Power
Every four years, you promise Power but all you do is hold on to power
Forced to embrace darkness, our mirror broken and our reflection in pieces
And now we can’t even see beyond our noses
Dear Nigerians, how do you fight a system stacked against you to fail?
The more we stay, the more we stray
The more the pain, the lesser the gain
We’ve lost our pride for the ride
And our prime, a long time
Dear Nigerians, is hope how we cope?
Do you still pray for redemption?
Do you see any glimpse of illumination?
Or is it just an unending radiation?
Sadly, hope may just be our only option… [To Be Continued]
WRITTEN BY DANNY
DANNY WORLD 