Nigeria Poem by Chinonso Nzeakor

Nigeria,
You are the prodigal
Basking,
In the glory
Of profligate years.

Nigeria,
You are the giant hawk
Feasting;
Upon the hatching dreams
Of your fledgling eggs.

Nigeria,
Your children are waiting on edge...aloof
Twilight has met us
At harvest brink...destitute

The promise of a bumper produce
At dawn...is gone,
And we must return home...forlorn
With tears in our eyes
With silence in our voices.

Who, O who
Will measure the boundary of your ineptitude?
What voice will sing,
the sad tale of our emaciated bones?
Nature's drums reverberate all round,
With the echoes of our throes,
And,
Out of the ashes of our burnt out sighs...
No Phoenix... will arise.

O fatherland!
Giant of Africa

O fatherland!
Is this how you wish to treat your children?