A Sorry Story! Poem by BAKANO A.MURTALA
A Sorry Story!
'Tis You History calls a milestone
Coz Your civility was second to none
When the Lions still flickered off and on
Reputable You still are as in the past
Coz Your fertility does last
Enough You have to go on fast
The Triangular 'they' traded raided You a lot
Banditry and kidnapping put You in spot-
Discrimination, exploitation, -the lot
Able-bodied enslaved
Barbaric marks engraved
The weak and dead got 'graved'
Vast plantations You farmed
Scorched and flogged and harmed
By the Lions, being armed
Lips locked not to yell
Enchained as though in cell
Trudging in single files of Farewell
To the coasts that cost lives
Of the teens, husbands and wives
Filed away as hives
Aboard ships to sail across
Having dealt You the careless toss
Sardined...numerous as poss
These and more You underwent
For centuries, THREE, that did dent
Your civility, O Africa, the innocent!
What noun is there to name:
The tortured, the murdered, the lame...
Or adjective to describe the 'baracoon' frame?
Could the Lions be barbaric!
Inexpressibly satanic!
My Africa still in sheer panic!
Well,
Treat not according to the Who-
But the Human Man is, in all You do
-A way is that to scale thru
August 14,2013
The poem talks about the very enslavement, the trip to the coasts, the 'enchainment', the boarding of the ships, the sail across the Atlantic, the work on the Americas plantations, and so on...
It also presents a possible way out: tolerance!
It is historical, and not meant to revive enmity or the likes.
I was inspired by the work of a pal of mine, Habeeb Salahuddeen. He composed a poem titled Weep Not, My Africa! Also, by my personal 'experience' on the question of the Triangular Slave Trade across the Atlantic.
It's a dedication to Professor Enoch Oyedele of History Department, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
And also to the pal mentioned above.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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3/12/2026 2:25:55 PM # 1.0.0
There is nothing left in this poem about slave trade. Well captured bakano