NIGER
A great land,
Bountiful as trove full of treasure
Before the marching line
Of star-shouldered wolves
Marshaled in and took command
As termites build tunnels
To support wood
For over a score and five
Before handing the coat of arms
To themselves as sheep
In the name of election
Like choosing representatives
From among wolves and mambas
Now fangs of endless looting,
Gulling and corruption,,
Poisons her painfully away
© 2024
Nwafor Oji Awala
About this poem
This poem is part of my upcoming collection of poems on social and political ills: REIGN of MAMBAS. It is easy like taking a short walk for one to relate with the verse and its imagery. It is a metaphor for Nigeria where corruption and tribalism have become, over so many decades, necessary evils that influence political and economic development.
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Submitted by Awala111 on June 07, 2024
- 23 sec read
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Quick analysis:
| Scheme | AXXXAXXXXXBXXXBX XX |
|---|---|
| Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
| Characters | 444 |
| Words | 78 |
| Stanzas | 2 |
| Stanza Lengths | 16, 2 |
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"NIGER" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 17 Mar. 2025. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/189038/niger>.
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