October First (Another Birthday Song For Nigeria)

Another first day

Of the tenth month

Of another year
And its caravan of memories



Seasons come
Seasons go

But the sky looms above our dreams

An umbrella with a thousand holes



How I wish I could shout “Happy Birthday,

Dear Country”, dance all the way from

Our Delta doldrums to our Sahel fringes

To a national song free of “native” and “tribe”



My tongue quarrels with my mouth

The anniversary wine turns sour

In my pensive goblet, as Hunger devours the land

And bandits thrive in their impunitive exploits



Corruption slays the sinews of State

Rulers fatten on prodigal excess

While the ruled perish in preventable penury

The best of our brains flee in dizzying droves



The Niger knows, the Benue believes

A country so bountifully endowed

But so mindlessly misruled, waiting, still waiting

For the road from blight to bless

Niyi Osundare

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