The African Child (1976) Poem by Justice Uchenna Mmahi

I'am the future
the last gift of nature
for my opinion
has no companion
my years of double
were my years of trouble

who i be?
Was like buzzing voices of bee
i'am Africa
a nomenclature like America
the name of a stigma
thy hope is an enigma
i lived in an island of poverty
right from my years of puberty

amidst oceans of material wealth
i ignorantly grope in search of health
i lived in helplessness
like path trodden with carelessness

i had been traumatized in heart
that i no longer feel home or hearth

i needed a helper
but was given an usurper
whom came with proud foot of anarchy
under the mereful eyes-watch of our monachies
they pampered me in pangs
that left stripes lines of scars and head bangs
iron- cloth me with chains of humilation
battered marks-another scene of speculated action.