I Weep For Nigeria Poem by Chris Jibero

I weep, I weep
I weep profusely
For my beloved country
Nigeria
Though not dead yet
She is on the throes of asphyxiation
Prostrate in despair
Comatose and gasping
I weep
For none but one
Of my compatriots
Is willing to arise
For Nigeria now

I weep, I weep
I weep profusely
For my beloved country
Nigeria
Cos worshiping in church today
The pastor
Who says in his message
Entitled 'Be Ye Perfect'
We should love our neighbours
More than ourselves
For Christ gave his life for us all
Though the Scripture enjoins
That we love our neighbours
As ourselves
Asks those who will
If need be
Pay the supreme sacrifice for
Our beloved country
To raise their hands
And only yours sincerely does
Amidst a sea of heads
Sitting in an atmosphere of piety
Adults and youth alike
And none else
Is ready to die for dear fatherland
For their blood is too precious
To waste for a hopeless anaemic patient

I weep, I weep
I weep profusely
For my beloved country
Nigeria
For as almost the whole congregation
Laughs at me derisively
As though I have made a crazy choice
And pronounced a queer declaration
Buoyed with courage
The pastor returns to me
And asks why I am the lone voice
In the wilderness of my beloved
And my simple answer is
'Love '
And the preacher
My fellow countryman
Also joins the crowd
Leaving like a wretch
And says he is not ready yet
To lay down his glorious life
For Nigeria

Oh, it may be Pastor's off day!
And my weeping intensifies
Because all but one
May not obey the clarion call
To serve our fatherland
With love and strength and faith

I weep, I weep
I weep profusely
For my beloved country
Nigeria
For the pastor says
That Americans are ever
Willing to die for their country
Because their country takes care
Of them wherever they are
But forgets to add that
A former president of theirs
Had taught them to think
Of what they would do
For their country
And not what their country
Would do for them
That was patriotism defined
Planted in the consciousness
Of nation builders
A people blessed
I weep
That the labours
Of our heroes past
May be in vain after all

I weep, I weep
I weep profusely
For my beloved country
For where do we go from here
As posterity may pay dearly
For the ill-treatment meted disdainfully
To my beloved
By tongue-in-cheek parents
Untrained disgruntled teachers
Imparting unpatriotic lessons
That our country is uncaring
A vote of no confidence on themselves
Their tongues condemn them
Their lips testify against them
Are they wells without water
Clouds carried with a tempest
Reserved for the mist of darkness forever?
But my children, gifts of God,
And I shall, by the grace of God,
Remain faithful, royal and honest
To our beloved
Nigeria
And serve her with all our strength
And defend her unity
And uphold her honour and glory
And shall not forget that
A people make a country
And not a country that
Makes her people
For without a faithful and united people
There will be no country to call ours
And as my lachrymal gland exhausts its stock
Of tears, I wipe my face clean
Hopeful that my beloved country
Nigeria
Will receive a miraculous healing shortly.

(c) Chris Jibero.2011.