I pray Thee

Oh! Dear Child of misfortune,
How do you laugh at your own misery?
Where has your promise of a better life gone?
Misplaced priorities, missing certificates
Monkeys are mocking, snakes are getting shares too
Things have fallen apart, the centre cannot hold
Your hands have become too frail to farm your own food
Your legs, too thin to carry you to any good
Have you no shame that life has moved without you?
Once upon a child that bore promises

Oh Nigeria! What has become of you?
We went from having too much money, no ideas
To too many ideas, no money to fuel them
It is true what the adage has said,
A man who would not work shouldn’t eat
Now, we’ve been asked to pray,
Pray for what exactly;
Good governance? Better health care? Food?
We had an early rise, and we wasted in the sun
We’ve survived on hope for this long
Hope without work is a disaster
We need to pick up the pieces
Not living a single piece out
First, we must fix our oneness
Like that of a pregnant woman and her baby
Then we begin to build step by step
There’s work that must be done,
The earlier we begin, the better.

Victor Oyedele