Let the iron-cap covering you thoughts fly away like a hopeless hawk
Into the lifeless desert … It shall hover, until the earth stands still
For inevitable, is your arrival
Hearing your cries the forests mourn
Your humiliation causes the sun to shed tears
Upon your extinction the dawn would retire
And history would sustain severe injuries
Wounds will never heal in your absence, memories would taste bitter
And all eyes would forever swim in a gloomy pool of blood
Your nurture is priceless
More invaluable than an ocean of cowries
Your smiles radiates hope even to rusty glasses
Promising, visionary eyes… gateway to boundless possibilities
Your innocence exudes a fragrance savoured by heavenly bodies
Without you the human race looks gloomy
Humanity becomes an incomplete story
Because you more valuable the bride is to her groom
More than darkness is to the dusk
Than light to eyes, more are you to the earth
Yes, that’s how you are!
The stereotype is already shedding
Like dead leaves departs from the branches of the Iroko
Soon, the world will briskly exclaim
In voice stronger than the sound of a wooden gong
They will proclaim you
A special creature
Yes, that’s what you are!
One day, surely one day, the world will assemble
Like the village square gathering – chanting to your feats
There your light will sparkle with the stars guarding your feet
Shining
Black
So rise, O black child!
Don’t rest on the dump of neglect like the broken calabash
For within is your power to explore
Nature stands behind you, stronger than a mansion’s pillars
Your future dazzles, more than the sun frying the earth on a day of doom
Decoding the blinding rays, humanity would reaffirm:
That’s a black child, a child of bodacious destiny
Yes, that’s who you are.
Written by: Amatanweze Tochukwu Offorbuike
Edited by: Kukogho Iruesiri Samson
