Here come the polls

KWENU! Our culture, our future

Here come the polls

Nwachukwu Matthew Ezewudo

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Please believe me, and the tale of an African giant

For the ides of May has come and the 29^th is near

And the hopes of a people is set on a date

So that the filling and counting of ballot bring progress

But on their life, are people who would rather no change

That a whole nation would be taken for summers ride in April

Hence the playing field shall be uneven

And the umpire himself becomes chief contestant

Let the courts become real-time busy on political orders and rulings

So nobody cares about the poverty and hunger and ignorance

Just another season of deceit and grandstanding, of false hope

In the end we all are losers and our future more precarious

Even from the sunrise at Obudu to its setting in Sokoto

Echoes of a disillusioned people ring crisp and clear

From the blood and oil drenched creeks of the delta, even to the rises in Asokoro

The curse and bind is so strong, unbroken, untouched

And the youth… they live and die, but have no Moses, no Mandela

In the end a generation fades with a kind of nation that lies every Election Day

In the affairs of our nation, we may yet see a break point

So that willy-nilly a different route is wrought

And the machinations of the powers and their sons, fall on their very heads

Then non of the protagonists come out victorious, unscathed from the booths

Change is foisted on our unknowing heads and unwilling hearts

May we be alive to the moment ad could we turn around the story of our people?

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