Uto Nwanne Bii Na Umu-Azi Poem by Tony Cemaluk

I said it beforehand,
and they called me monster.

What did I say?

That uto nwanne bii na umu-azi —
the sweetness of brotherhood
ends in childhood.

That genuine joy of blood
stops after infancy.

That once a man finds
his own voice,
his own way,
his own greed,
his own god —
the last figment of 'nwanne' dies.

What you see after that
is not brotherhood.

It is an altar.
An altar of cheating.

There you will find two people:
The cheater who eats,
And the cheated who smiles,
carrying the dead body of brotherhood
on his head,
so others will clap and say
'see how united they are.'

Until one day,
the cheated — unknown, unpraised, unseen —
stops smiling,
slumps,
and the altar scatters.

Then you will see —
the cheaters could never gather
without the back of the cheated.