Strange Land, Nigeria Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGH IJKJLMDC NEOPGQRS OTJUVTEWCan a strong man's house | A |
Be plundered unless he's bound first | B |
Can a dog eat the bone | C |
That hangs on its neck | D |
Can a fish drown | E |
In the water in which it swims | F |
Can a bird be overwhelmed | G |
By the breeze on which it soars | H |
- | |
Yet here in our land | I |
A strong man wasn't only bound | J |
His house devastated and demolished | K |
The strong man was bound | J |
Hand and foot and bundled off | L |
We've seen the dog eat up | M |
The very bone hanging on its neck | D |
It munched it like biscuit bone | C |
- | |
And sat waiting for more | N |
Here we've seen too a fish drown | E |
In its own water dead and bloated | O |
Like bread cast on the waters that ought to give it life | P |
The birth has been overwhelmed | G |
By the very breeze it soared on | Q |
We live in a strange land in strange times | R |
Where nought's impossible | S |
- | |
Police men are abducted | O |
By the very criminals they're paid to eliminate | T |
To rub salt into the festering wound | J |
The brigands demand for a ransom | U |
A hundred million to let their quarry go | V |
And like toothless bull dogs we wait | T |
We pray for a miracle for God to come down | E |
And save our effeminate men | W |
Emmanuel Inya Otu-nwachi
(C) All Rights Reserved. Poem Submitted on 11/21/2020
Poet's note: Sometime last week a team of police men on the way from Kaduna to Abuja the seat of power were kidnapped by some armed men who demanded a hundred million naira ransom. The poem examines the problem with an Igbo proverb which states a dog cannot eat the bone hanging on its neck. The police are to deal with the criminals. Instead the criminals are dealing with the police. The authorities seem to care less or seem to be helpless.
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Write your comment about Strange Land, Nigeria poem by Emmanuel Inya Otu-nwachi
Best Poems of Emmanuel Inya Otu-nwachi