A shroud of darkness falls upon the sun, The verdant green of our nation turns to black. Peace refuses to make her home here, For the mouths of our leaders are opened wide— Swallowing the hope of the many.
The land our fathers promised us, A land once sworn to flow with milk and honey, Now runs red with the blood of the innocent; A nation bartered and sold to the highest greed.
We count the years of a hollow age, But the truth is, the dream died in its youth. I mourn the soil, yet I salute the ghosts— The fallen heroes who bled for a freedom That we have let slip through our fingers.
Now our hopes are severed and divided, Our vision blinded by the dust of the fray. The mission is forgotten in the hollow of the night, For the true heroes are buried in the earth.
The Green Lament
Afe Tosin Shola
(C) All Rights Reserved. Poem Submitted on 09/30/2021
Poet's note: Thematic Summary
The poem uses the imagery of the Nigerian flag (the Green) to show how a symbol of life and fertility has been stained by darkness and corruption. It moves through three distinct emotional stages:
The Betrayal of Leadership: The "wide mouths" of leaders represent a bottomless greed that devours peace and sells the country's future for personal gain.
The Broken Promise: It subverts the biblical imagery of a "land flowing with milk and honey," replacing those symbols of life with the "blood of the innocent." It suggests that the nation’s spirit died long ago (before it reached age 20), making the current celebrations of independence feel hollow.
The Loss of Direction: The final section describes a collective "blindness." Without the guidance of true heroes—who are either dead or forgotten—the people have lost their unified vision and mission.
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Poem topics: dream, freedom, greed, green, home, hope, night, peace, red, sun, truth, innocent, earth, wide, milk, honey, true, black, dust, vision, Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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