If I Don't Make Another Day. Poem by Van Garuba

*If I don't make another day, *
Let the world hold this at heart:
It was never tragic to lose souls in my country —
Tragedy is the blood tainting my soil.

*If I don't make another day, *
Know it came for cowards dressed as brave men,
For horror that follows "the rules"
And calls it justice.

*Our cries never reached Aso Rock*,
But their commands found us without fail.
Our dreams were subverted by engineered hunger,
Signed, sealed, and delivered by goal-breakers.

*We are not lazy —*
If the driver had chosen the road to our destination.
If the key hadn't been drowned in politics' ocean,
The world built for humans would not be unlivable for those who refuse to wake.

*I am in a land where my value is blocked, *
Where favoritism is policy,
Where excellence is criminalized,
And crime wears the crown of excellence.
A land where diligence is an offense.

*Lock this in your memory while I still have breath: *
Wailing means nothing to the ghost.
I live today to witness their celebration,
But I will never see them mourn —
Because departure has already turned the key.

*I may not make another day, *
But another day will carry my name —
For I know in my land,
Men like me are forgotten fast.
Don't let them forget why.

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*_Poet*: *MC* *Vangarubá* *| Nature: Dirge_*