UNITY AND FAITH, PEACE AND PROGRESS?

A nation built on the tenets of
unity and faith, peace and progress,
has been ripped apart by tyranny.
What was white has now become red.
The very spirit of Nigeria is dead.

Trembling in mortal fear amid curfews,
never has being alive been this hard.
Taking to the streets for justice,
seeing the streets become graveyards.
Where is the unity?

Is it a crime to be young and modern?
Go ask the dead boy who drove an SUV.
Those thought to be guardian angels
turned out to be demons incarnate.
Where is the faith?

The rooster’s crow is no more heard,
as shrill gunshots beckon the day.
The protesting voices sang the anthem.
But now, their epitaphs are recited.
Where is the peace?

Sixty ripe years of independence
boiled down to mean little to nothing.
Enslaved by the colonizers, then.
And now, by a ruthless police state.
Where is the progress?

In memory of the victims of the Lekki massacre in Nigeria

By Adrian David

Biography:

Adrian David writes ads by day, and poetry and short fiction by night. His poems explore themes of society, conflict, peace, and everything else in between, from the mundane to the sublime.