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THIS IS HOW WE WEAR OUR INDEPENDENCE

1/10/2022

11 Comments

 
By Opeyemi Oluwayomi
Picture
After:  Betiku A. Samuel
-- ‘There are many hands here burying the sky.’

When the whites return to our cloth; used, we gleefully
cover our nakedness and gird our loins with African 

pride. At that moment, we were like Zion that dreameth, 
and we were glad to own our musty-ameliorated attire. 

Recently, as we grow in our palmar flexion creases like 
flowers in sandy soil, we clocked sixty-two in the callus 
palm of a Fulani man and he became a sad note; fingers 
shouldn’t have struck. Yesterday, a man of many cattle 

and sheep roasted the only lamb of another. A king shot 
his servant for being faithful, and in the pursuit of making 

fingers equal, a merchant sold his dignity for coins. Still, 
all we did was to blame the head for not soothing the pain 

in the body. Here, I see hands clouding the sky from 
beholding its stars and the moon, I see hands burying the 

sky— yours, theirs, and ours, I see. This is how we wear 
our independence.
Picture
Writer's Biography

Opeyemi Oluwayomi is a Nigerian writer. His works have appeared or are forthcoming in Poemify Magazine, Brittle Paper, Up-write Magazine, and elsewhere. In addition, he is an aspiring novel writer. Whenever he is not writing, he is probably scoring some musical piece (piano, voice et al.) or reading.
11 Comments
Adedapo
1/10/2022 05:12:48 pm

The song will change one day, I believe 😔

Reply
Esther Abubakar
5/10/2022 06:21:30 pm

Joseph! You've captured decades with the right words! I must commend your talent. You've written well.
This piece with it interesting choice of words, has left me to wonder aloud; 'What must we do? That we may become GIANTS in truth again!
This is my learned conclusion from this piece: we've what it takes to become!

Reply
Daniel Kehinde Olalekan
8/10/2022 11:35:12 pm

Beautiful poem, really. So many themes in one poem. How beautiful! In the poem, I see hypocrisy, injustice, bad leadership, death and corruption. The poem opens with biblical allusion. "Nakedness" and "like ion that dreameth" are testaments of the biblical references in the poem. I see the sense of Independence, freedom, in the first few lines.

The poem is reveals the social and political ills of Nigeria. From the leader to the common man, no one seems to be spared. A man with a cattle slaughtering another person's sheep, a king killing his faithful servant, a merchant selling his dignity for a coin. All of these expose the ills and faults of every person in the country. With all these, the country cannot move forward, no matter however long it lives after Independence. The country needs to be free from itself before there can be total Independence.

This poem is so rich and beautiful. Love the imageries, too. Well done, Joseph.

Reply
Funminiyi Akinrinade
10/10/2022 09:20:52 am

You just mirrored Nigeria in fine words, Joseph. It's sad, though. I keep wondering when we're going to get it right.

Reply
Diseph Victoria Gogo link
10/10/2022 10:20:53 am

Well done Joseph. You made the truth less bitter with your choice of words hence one can't help but appericiate the creativity.

Reply
Esther Nwani
11/10/2022 03:55:41 am

We have the capacity to make Nigeria great again, this I believe.

Reply
Olamide Ojediran link
11/10/2022 11:03:49 am

This is such a beautiful piece. I pray we get victory at last just like Zion. Your poem depicts Nigeria's reality. Showing this to my poet friend. Well done Joseph👏👏

Reply
Alice
11/10/2022 12:09:26 pm

Olamide Ojediran showed me this. Great poem, Nigeria would definitely stand strong!!!

Reply
Syntyche Omeinyinyi Success
12/10/2022 10:52:40 am

Deep sighs
Nigeria in the muds.

I believe this narrative will change soon.

All hands burying the sky will do so no more.

Thank you for this piece Mr. Joesph.

Reply
Esther
15/10/2022 05:36:50 pm

This is such a beautiful piece. I was captivated from the first line. I love how skillful you were with imagery. Well done, it’s an excellent piece.

Reply
Sodiq LAWAL
16/10/2022 10:30:15 am

This is scintillating!

You've done a fantastic justice to the theme, poet. Well done!

I believe the hope is not die yet. And the sun shall rise again. I believe. We believe!

Reply



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