Weaponized Veil

 

   

Weaponized Veil

 

Maybe you have heard of How Europe underdeveloped Africa,

Of how the Niger and the Nile were forced to drink the bloodied waves from the Land of no return,

Of how the Dunbar Creek became the unfortunate goblet that welcomed the oblation from the stern of the Wanderer,

And of how the Horniman Museum adorned its shelves with tons of pillaged Benin artifacts.

 

Maybe you have also read of how The Scramble for Africa,

Made her a Land of Tears,

And of how an unfounded Imperial Reckoning,

Left her unmourned bones In the Forest of No Joy.

 

But then, have you ever thought of how Africans underdeveloped Africa?

Of why her Streets are still filled with Petals of Blood?

And of why the early bird has failed to catch a worm?

Then walk with me as I unveil her Weaponized Veil.

 

Poverty; Africa’s common weaponized veil,

And the hue to her already fogged dawn.

Shadow of the privileged few, and the reality of the fast-fading many,

Who like featherless chicks, have been forced to worship the gods of tiny droplets.

 

This was what I knew, that my ancestors became the unsung guardians of the Igbo landing,

So that their seeds can have the keys of a Freed Town.

But this is what I now know, that the once dreamt chants of a Freed Town,

Became lost in the now reigning deafening echoes of poverty

 

 

Nwokoye Emmanuel Maduabuchi

 

Nwokoye Emmanuel Maduabuchi is a creative writer and poet. His works have made both international and local appearances in literary journals and magazines. He has been previously published by Brittlepaper, Botsotso, NiCE magazine and elsewhere. He was educated at SS. Peter and Paul Major Seminary, Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo State where he studied Philosophy.