Mother Why?
Written on the first year anniversary of the Lekki Toll gate massacre: 20201020, so we don’t forget.
But mother why?
They call us hangry and accursed and
Slothful and useless,
Indeed time has failed memory,
Our mother has forgotten.
Mother has forgotten her bruised back under the white whip,
So she puts her children under the black whip;
This mother cut her children, put them in a cauldron, ate, licked their bones and belched in contentment.
If mother’s wings become bullets which send us to our maker, where then is the abode of solace and shelter?
Naked, naked!
Alas, orphans have better covering.
“It burns! Oh it burns!”
This mother’s bosom spit out vengeful flames,
See my brothers and sisters.
See their blood mingled with the brown of earth,
See how the spittle of reproach adorns us like a second skin!
See how life seeps from bold, defiant bones forever!
The darkness descends on us all in repressed voices and depressed souls.
See!
Our saviours transforming into vultures out for blood, our blood.
But the hails of Messiah! Messiah! Tuale Baba! never ceases like a badly crammed prayer.
Appendix
Tuale: A flattering praise word usually for those seen as superior.
