We Have Gone To School Poem by ANTHONY ANIGBATA

WE HAVE GONE TO SCHOOL

We have gone to school
Took the tough path with bravery
Like they said we should do
And have come out
In flying colours
To spread our lights on this shore

We have gone to school
We were not captured
As hostage of borrowed courses and carry-overs
Not released to rot;
We wasted wax and oil
Drank garri without groundnuts
Toiled thro' thorns and storms
Counting years we lived
Without relatives to rest on
Without good foods as fuel
To calm our wobbly worms;
Now we are all back
Back to be wasted at last.

We have gone to school
Gained knowledge, but have all come home to dwell
As parasites to poor aged parents
No postman have brought
Packages replying our countless applications
We sort day and night
For places to showcase our skills
But businesses here are left
For big billionaires to profit

And when we consider all these
And how we spent years learning
We can't but lament
This injustice on us, the budding ones

We have gone to school, far away
The fishermen ward begin to paddle
And fish, at dawns' first smile
But we after myriad years of learning
And here, wasting.
We watch the gleaming moon
Kiss the sky at midnight
And the sun
Stare at the fallen foliages at noon
We watch the harmattan and rain seasons
Take turns each ebbing year
But here, all doors are closed
Only open to the wards of the mighty and connected
Because the big irokos of the forest
Are determined to die on that throne

We have gone to school
Passed through the painful paths
But have all come home to dwell
Though we have done all things,
Necessary to make us worthy heirs
Of this wealthy home land
Still we have come back home to dwell
To start searching jobs
For ages and then waste
The knowledge we gained with a cost

Oh fathers, we have gone to school.