We Cry Behind: To Enugu Casualties Poem by John Chizoba Vincent

To those who came almost fully made
But were cut off short in life, go in peace;
Go in peace not in pieces, we care about you.
We can't fight now, our hands are tight behind,
Do not look with watery eyes to the hollow way;
Glittering and glowing perfectly, it is way to paradise.
History has been made and your names registered.
Posterity will not forget those blood spilled
Harshly on the hot thirsty sand of Enugu-
'Ka odina ndokwa, kachifo ndi oma obigbo'.
I have seen your names written in the sky,
Looking at the face of the sun, I wept,
I got deaf at the elegy rendered by the birds.
Those thousand hands can not count my tears
If it were to be counted and see my sorrow flowing.
Tribute so long have been written and read,
Songs so terrible and ear breaking had been sung,
Looking at the maggotting bodies laid in mass;
Those bodies slaughtered like a funeral rams,
My heart sank in a mournful manner.
Ka odi na ndokwa O, emesia anyi ga afu.



(C) John Chizoba Vincent
Voice Of Vincent 2016