When Aunti Dana Made Her Last Run Poem by Lay Rite

Don't lament
Never forget
The blood unseen
And the cause unknown

Don't lament
The parts in piece
And the dreams in rubble
(Where will they find their peace?)

Never forget
The oblivious insiders
And helpless sojourners
(Fate had no use for mood)

Don't lament
The elephants that wouldn't stand
And the cubs trampled to death
(Form and structure amounted to zilch)

Never forget
The seedlings orphaned at a whiff
And the spouses windowed in a sec
(Can't they insure that too?)

Don't lament
The lineage extinct
And the honey-moon eclipsed
(When will the reunion be?)

Never forget
Faces smile wouldn't visit for a while
And those ambitions buried for life
(What will it take to undo that?)

Don't lament
The pen never to be dipped in ink
And the mouth denied its orders
(Limitation is one sure thing)

Never forget
The town desecrated
And the people blackened
(Never again is a known lie)


Don't lament
The tears men freely shed
And the sigh women unconsciously made
(Were those emotions misplaced?)

Never forget
The Sunday twice dammed
And the tragedy multiplied
(Evils only men could do)

Don't lament
The bolt probably left untightened
And the signature bought with Guilder
(An answer not there or here.)

Never forget
The gravity dutifully obliged
And how fragile everything really is

That we know, that we ignore
And that we remembered
When Aunti Dana made her last run.
-
For Hammidah and other Nigerian children; may the rest of your childhood witness less tragedy.