A Poem

By Nnimmo Bassey

1. Nigeria

If there is egwu eke
There must be a drummer
Or the flutist
Where there is a dance there must be a song
Who is the musician to whose beats
The python is dancing?

The crocodile please
My gapping jaws and fearsome teeth
Never mean I smile
No matter how hard my stinking efforts with
Dirt-crusted teeth
Who says the crocodile smiles or is this a search for flesh to rip?

Whose beat demands a dance?
Whose dance demands a smile?
To question the wisdom of beasts of the forests and of the creeks
The hunted must pause to unravel
When infantries turned into reptiles

No cocky croc grimaces
No wiggly cobra twists
Demilitarize
Now!

2. Africa

Drumbeats drowned
by merchant gunboats
Exploited
Partitioned with a ruler
Rigged with sit tight rulers
Fragmented
Sucked
Sapped
Dried
Burnt
Exposed to subhuman bondage
Time to pushback
Merge the sub nations
One Africa

No cocky croc grimaces
No wiggly cobra twists
Demilitarize
Now!

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Photo caption: Nigerian military forces conduct bilateral visit, board, search and seizure training aboard the Military Sealift Command’s joint high-speed vessel USNS Spearhead.

Photo credit: CNE CNA C6F