Poetry

Karel Prinsloo/ AP

By

Ngozi Olivia Osuoha

Weep For Africa

Hunger, the firm motto

Thirst, the dark logo

Hardship, fast and swift

Poverty, the people’s gift

Masses; the proper dustbin

Less privileged; the specimen

O weep for Africa.

The giant is the oppressor

The dwarf; the oppressed

The rich is the censor

The poor; the censored

Class is the lifeguard

Dichotomy, the bodyguard

O weep for my country.

Leaders, barbaric and blind

Shepherds, wolves beyond the mind

Prophets gain more slaves

Representatives build more caves,

Professionals do much harm

Colleagues burn down the farm,

Dear, weep for my nation.

Kings abduct their wives

Chiefs train the thieves,

Ancestors remain in service

Youths suffer injustice,

Ghosts earn salaries

Hosts lose their lives,

Honey, weep for my fatherland.

Fraudsters are true friends

Looters, the great legends

Killers are the dignitaries

Spoilers; the signatories

Corrupt judges are the heroes

Lazy cows inherit potatoes,

O weep for Mama Africa.

Policies trap the mouse

Rules build their house,

Connected, never can be caught

Among, no more in draught

Few, suppressing the numbers

Dew, refreshing their members,

Darling, weep for my people.

Social media is an abuse

But the treasury they diffuse,

Talking is jail-able

Stealing is bail-able,

Dying is our plight

Living is their right,

Weep for my generation.

The smart chant the law

The crude have it raw,

The clever weave a web

The dull cut in the neb,

The government parcel

Once uttered, none can cancel,

My dear, WEEP FOR AFRICA

Dear Mark Zuckerberg

Harness our talents

Develop our ideas,

Encourage our businesses

Enlarge our ‘landing sector’

Empower our ‘strength’

Refine our zeal,

Then take your Facebook.

Give us jobs and job security,

Pay workers and pensioners,

Combat maternal mortality,

Guard the citizenry,

Take then your Facebook.

Give us steady electricity

Free tuition, sound education

We need good roads,

Hospitals and infrastructures,

Build our bridges and railways

Make safe our waterways,

Then take your Facebook.

Sanitize our airways

Play politics with fairness,

Erase greed and selfishness,

Engage the restive youths,

Then keep your Facebook.

Our environment is unsafe

Our waters are polluted,

Our farmlands are infertile

Mark, is Facebook our problem?

DEDICATED TO MY GOVERNMENT

Ngozi Olivia Osuoha

Ngozi Olivia Osuoha is a young writer from Nigeria. From a family of eight, including both parents she is the second daughter but fourth child. She read Estate Management and has some experience in Banking and Broadcasting.

She has published some works in a Liberian magazine, Ghanian news platform and an Indian poetry publication.

Many of her works have gone abroad for evaluation and publication. She wrote the longest poems/rhymes in the world, yet to be published. Writing is life.