Nigeria

An Independence Day collabo by Shai, Somto & Mikesfrequency (me) 

Shai:
My name is North
Often misunderstood, but not a nut
Royally born, I strut flaunting my glittering crest,
Hence, my name I believe comes first.


Stand aside brothers! Be in my way and I have no choice
But to come at you with my brute force
Why I ask, do you connive so?
You whom I have loved dearly so

My steps I have since re-traced
Back to ways nearly effaced
Let it be known, this is my new creed
Your turn to make a choice or bleed

East, West and South my brethren
Always cuddling to that felon called master
Forgetting we took a solemn oath together
My hands touching the totem first
Here you are treating me poorly, while we tear at each other
Born and bred by the same mother
I wonder if either you East, South or West do remember..

*********************
I am the West
And I have known you from birth
But, how did we come to this pass?
Where we set out to maim and cause each other death?

From birth I knew you
Remember we gathered and sang an anthem?
Pledging each other love and oneness
Our lips now fill with sourness.

Our hearts turn to hatred
And our pride still we hold sacred
Even if tattered and much battered
I wonder if you know what I do in my head.

******************
Somto:
I am East and I know what you do in your head.
I can feel all the negative tension from your end
For a sin they say we are soaked in.
A sin no one sees but everyone believes in.

We live together; even the houses don’t mind our differences.
So why is our friendship choked by our tribal influences?
Why can’t I see you and call you ‘Nwannem’?
Why do I look at you and spit out the words ‘enyim’?

Same color, same likes, same dance, same beat
Same sound as the mortar and the pestle meet
Yet we struggle with not just the north,
Now we battle even within the same hut.

My clock is ticking
When will East meet West?
And the battle feet come to a rest?
When will the east meet the South
And the gun fire is less than a sound?
When will the east meet North?
And we all gather for a palm wine shot?
*******************
Mikesfrequency:
I am the South

Hold it North! Tread softly on my grounds
Your lust has gone beyond bounds
East stay away from my toil
West, don’t dare touch my oil.

We are children of the night
War songs under the moonlight
Darting suspicious eyes, each tribe apart
Once upon a time, we were many voices with one heart

Labours of our heroes forgotten fast
A lost cliché in some memory past
We’re one lasting choice from together
Our hearts beating in unison forever
Moving beyond nomenclature, no criteria
No East, West, South or North, just one Nigeria!