I SEE HOPE !
Who will nurse my eternal wounds?
Who will put a smile on my sad looking face?
This is my country!
My cradle, my breath, my name.
I searched the world in my dream and in wish,
Yet no other land will claim my soul the same.
Here I sit,
On this humble chair of thought,
Gazing upon sixty-five seasons gone,
Where trials marched in khaki boots,
And history spoke in riddles of tears and triumph.
They once called it Luggard’s error.
A careless stitch of strangers into one cloth.
Yet behold!
The patchwork became a tapestry,
A nation woven with many tongues, bound in one heartbeat.
We have walked a century’s road,
Dust on our feet, hunger in our bellies,
But still, we smiled.
Not for milk and honey,
But for the fire that refused to die,
For the unity that mocked division,
For the laughter that survived despair.
We remember,
The Queen’s shadow stretching from across the sea, for more.
We remember,
The soldiers of steel, marching LEFT-RIGHT,
Echoes of power loud as thunder,
Yet silence in the belly of the poor.
But even when bandits in cassocks or suits
Brandished greed like holy scripture,
We stood!
We stood in our dances,
In our drums that never forgot their rhythm,
In our voices that rose like rivers
Singing one anthem, one faith, one hope.
O Nigeria,
You move like the tortoise,
Slow, scarred, but never broken.
Each step forward is a whisper of promise,
Each dawn is a reminder of possibility.
For our strength is not in castles of marble,
Nor in the hands of men who grasp power like spoils,
But in us,
In the market woman’s call,
In the farmer’s sweat,
In the student’s dream,
In the children’s laughter, they reborn each morning.
Sixty-five years,
And still, the fire flickers.
I do not mourn the darkness of yesterday,
For I see the candle of tomorrow rising.
Yes!
Though the road winds,
Though the night lingers,
Nigeria, my country, my name.
I see hope!
Godson Osarenren
Lead Convener, Naija Poetry Fest
www.naijapoetryfest.com.ng
