Another first day
Of the tenth month
Of another year
And its caravan of memories
Seasons come
Seasons go
But the sky looms above our dreams
An umbrella with a thousand holes
How I wish I could shout “Happy Birthday,
Dear Country”, dance all the way from
Our Delta doldrums to our Sahel fringes
To a national song free of “native” and “tribe”
My tongue quarrels with my mouth
The anniversary wine turns sour
In my pensive goblet, as Hunger devours the land
And bandits thrive in their impunitive exploits
Corruption slays the sinews of State
Rulers fatten on prodigal excess
While the ruled perish in preventable penury
The best of our brains flee in dizzying droves
The Niger knows, the Benue believes
A country so bountifully endowed
But so mindlessly misruled, waiting, still waiting
For the road from blight to bless
Niyi Osundare
