By: Aloba Jonathan 

 

You should have heeded the words

of the wise man who fought for your freedom

in blood and bones.

 

You should have heeded the wise words of the great giant

who lived by the Niger sea.

 

You should have kept your valuables.

They might have been your value now.

The great gifts nature gave you.

 

What sounds do I hear

like the strange Bata?

 

What strange thing am I looking at

that looks like fila abetiaja

or the sound of people prophesying obianuju?

I wouldn’t understand

because what I don’t understand I fear,

so I plot while they sleep.

 

Oh what a pity,

they should have been great

but they choose to play the tortoise character

who chooses to eat other people’s own

but keeps his under the belly.

 

Thier words are swift and pleasant

like the sweet smelling aroma of a melted sheabuter,

yet Thier butters suffer and their neighbours sweats.

 

Oh what a pity.

 

They should have stood like a giant

but they had  not been a warrior from a toddler.

Every fire that starts

is quenched by their deadly smile

and dangerously curling cap.

 

With heart they farm to their homes

and feed their own

but with mouth they make promises

that can never be kept.

 

Oh what a pity.

I was there when they were  toddlers

without clothes,

crying for freedom.

 

I gave them what they asked

but they never stopped crying

and I never stopped feeding.

 

They came to me and sat with the devil

sharing a cuisine

and a hot bath and wine.

So I smirked with my cold eyes

looking great,

but beneath?

 

I am curious.

 

How could they have

turned out

if they  had listened to the wise words

of the old man?

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Aloba Jonathan is a 400-level student of the Department of Arts and Social Sciences Education, Faculty of Education, UI. He is passionate about  creativity, exhibiting it through his  poetic writings. He is also a fairness, equity and social justice advocate.