Failed State Poem by Victor Okechukwu Anyaegbuna

The time has come
When independence defines slavery,
And freedom incarcerates.
The time is indeed here,
When integrity nurtures vice
And dignity is an illusion.

The days are here
When truly, the greatest in hell
Define standards for the least in heaven.
Delirium and apathy
Have overwhelmed the populace,
Struggling for basic survival;
Swimming and drowning in an ocean,
Yet, dying of dehydration.
Lacking security, in the darkness
Of vision and wit, ignorance,
Disease and penury elevated,
Mediocrity celebrated.

How the lions have been cowed,
Empowering hectors and tyrants
Who deliberately kill pedagogy
To achieve further, the ease
Of unholy dominion over clodhoppers,
While men of God preach prosperity
In doomsday and Armageddon.