For Kunle Adepeju (01-02-1971)

i.

Dear Countrymen,

there is nothing stray

about a bullet fired into

the misty air to find solace in

the soft flesh of unarmed citizens.

There is nothing inadvertent when

protectors of lives wear the garbs of

hunters, cracking down on human games,

silencing “demonic” voices of dissent, crying

fairness and justice.

 

My countrymen,

our country’s wind

does not turn the teeth

of hot bullets desiring to be

cooled off by blood, longing for

acres of bodies to sow seeds of silence.

 

Verily, i say unto you,

countrymen, revisit the

dusty parchment of our

history, return to the grave

records of our grief, there, you

find the truth, that you do not

choose to be a martyr, your country

makes one out of you, builds a statue

in your honour, plants scentless flowers

around your grave, and declares a public

holiday in your name. After your death, the thread

of martyrdom continues, yet salvation doesn’t come.

 

Now, I ask,

if my country chooses the ways of bloodletting,

taking lives that they can’t give, giving flowers

that the dead won’t smell, declaring holidays

devoid of empathy, what becomes the fate

of the common man?

 

Countrymen, you do not choose to be a martyr,

your country makes one out of you.

 

About the Author

Olobo Ejile hails from Dekina, Kogi State. He is a poet, writer, and researcher. His works have appeared (or are forthcoming) in ANA, Fiction Niche, Shallow Tales Review, ArtisansQuill, among others. He is a fellow of the 2025 Idembeka Creative Writing Workshop.