The roofs of Coaltown –
They speak of ages gone
And visitors bid bye
In a flurry of fiery blasts
The streets of Umuahia –
Their single tars are coarse
Like the hearts broken,
Lonely and grief-swept
When the man of the house
Dissolves
The towns of black gold –
Their rivers spewing fortune
Are agog with misfortune;
Tiny deaths filling the air
Where a “nation” draws its breath
The fledglings of “Motherland”,
Hatched on a spurious night
When patience and love hugged their mats
Who will teach them
The trueness of truth,
The justness of justice,
The primacy of work,
And the place of honour?
There is a monster abroad
Dagger unsheathed, its fuel is blood
And cancerous anger,
Its cyst a film incubating discord
Diverse turbulence curdling in this melting pot.
We fear for the land of promise
And we should;
For if the roof falls,
Whose head is safe?
“The Roofs” – Segun Akinlolu, Enugu, 1993
