Instead of posting one of my poems, I wanted to share with you a poem from my friend David Cromwell-Aigbokhan over at Thoughts of Cromwell. He writes a lot of amazing stuff and you should totally check out his blog. But today I will share with you his poem Failing State. The poem is about Nigeria, but I think there is something in it that many of us can understand and relate to regardless of where we’re from.
Failing State
You promised us your eyes,
But now our pain is welcomed with blindness.
You promised us your ears,
But our cries are welcomed with deafness.
You said you would treat us with care,
But you seem to have become the careless/ couldn’t even careless.
You told us to have no fear,
Now you beg us to fear-less.
You painted the beautiful and built the ugly
Now your go-to phrase,
Is to beg us not to worry.
And in four years,
I’m sure it’ll be “I’m sorry”
You said have no fear it’s all a phase
That to see the gain, you have to go through pain.
But if the past is better than the present,
Doesn’t that make you feel we’re in a descent?
You tell us to have faith,
Claiming our country was already a failing state.
But it felt better failing,
Rather than your supposed “pain-gaining”.
But I’ll give you a chance…
Believe in the almighty’s plans
Remain oblivious to the obvious
Hope you take us to the promised land.
-Cromwell
He Who Wanders 