Colonial Mentality Poem by Eche Ononukwe

We always say our land is desecrat’d;

that the whites from the wintry land

came with their heavy machine guns,

firing here and there our aged-civiliz’d land

like Shylock on the flesh of Antonio.

But we’re quick to forget

that we fought ‘em heart and soul

to claim back our enslav’d land,

which they demanded from us –

they won us, we won ‘em lat’r.

After a long period of perpetual chains,

we won our land, thanks to our Chineke God.



Now we rule ourselves yet enslave ourselves,

with our acquir’d colonial mentality of rule-and-divide,

standing in a platform, mouth wide open

like windows of heaven about to let a heavy pour.

We preach a corrupt free society,

yet we’re corrupt in our heart.