Amnesty Poem by Tony Adah

I want to offer
Here a toast-
A posthumous eulogy
To the giver of amnesty
I sow these words
In the silts
Of the niger delta
And I am dancing
For the copious gushing
Of black gold.

Wiwa, I thank you
For paving the way
Mitee, I thank you
For using the way
Dokubo, I thank you
For harbouring the boys
You have today released
Tompolo, I thank you
For policing the land.

Today the boys have laid down
Their arms and the warmth
Of peace has embraced the land.
I am blindfolded
Lonely moving northwards
I am sad that I do not
Know who the killer is
I plough on the
Sand of the sahel
And I want to plant amnesty
Here for men
Here for ghosts
But the citizens
Of my country are real

I am silent
Like the flight
Of a sunbird
I remain still
Like the granite slab
Of the plateau helplessly watching
The rage of the herdsmen.

I am sober
Pondering over the holucaust
Of the southern locusts
Amnesty fizzes
With bubbles of absent peace.

I am a militant
I bow to my country
Here are my arms
Here are my munitions.

I am a terrorist
I bear the clouds of rain
I bear the clouds of thunder
I want peace
I want war
I want power
All from both
Sides of his mouth.

And amnesty dangles
His unsure hand
Between men and ghosts
Nodding their invisible heads
Men or ghosts
Amnesty hand of peace sags
Men or ghosts
Their loud 'No' is evident
In their bombs.