The North Ii | Emmanuel Inya Otu-Nwachi

The North
The great giant
Expanse of land
Spreading to East and West
Beautiful and green;
Undulating
With mountains and valleys
Fresh with rivers and brooks
Holding forth myriads of ethnicities,
Of cultures diverse and rich
Producing ebullient men and women;

The great land
Has been laid waste
By infidels and marauders
Barbarism is their religion
Their god has no other pleasure
Safe making sport with human life
His meat is human flesh
And wine human blood;

The giant lies comatose
Flat on its tummy,
Laid waste by sons and daughters
That brought devilish foreigners
With neither conscience nor the milk of human kindness
To lay siege on their homeland
As if they had another elsewhere!

Poet's note: The northern part of Nigeria has the largest landmass when compared with the East and West, and was known for the production of cash and food crops. Cash crops like groundnut and cotton were exported abroad and earned the region and the entire cointry foreign exchange before the country abandoned agriculture as a result of the discovery of crude oil. It has deposits of minerals like gold, beryte, tin, iron ore etc. However, a few years back a terrorist group known as Boko Haram sprang up in the Northeast and life has never been the same. The North has become a killing field and life is worth nothing. The poem celebrates the North but decries the unnecessary killings taking place.