LIBYA - A Home of...

(To Motherland)

By Abiola Inioluwa Oluwaseun

Dear Baami,

I want to remind you

Of how we lost our way on a night

Where Libya slit our future with daggers of horror

And we became a poem on slavery's archive

I saw voices sinking like a fallen dream,

I saw bodies, dropping like fading sighs

Tears- tatooed on scalp of naive sands

Noices, slay silence on a night of wounded memories.

It was a night where our smiles limped off our jaded faces

And fear cracked our soul with claws of brutality

Dreams buried- we became the sad song of a barren night

My brother's blood crawled to kiss my scar for the last time

And to give her blessing on my quest with my newly found buddy- slavery.

The cry of our sisters would spank my bald conscience-

Whenever their undefiled thighs appease fuming fangs:

In their eyes, I could see a young girl whose dignity is stolen

Chains, whips, punches, kicks:

Like a father would say to his child

"Do not die until you have made a mark on the pages of life"

The quote is fulfilled, but our backs became the pages of life,

And the whips made their mark on us.

We died papa, even before death rescued us

But papa, do not forget this:

We are silhouettes that won't feel the face of a new dawn,

And  remember that when dream falls, actuality becomes a mirage

I go papa, never to return to you.

02-12-2017

#Libya

#NoToSlavery

#NigerianPoet

#Poetry

NB: 'Baami' literally means 'my father' in Yoruba (one of Nigeria's major language)

Editor's Note
This piece paints very deep pictures of the trending slavery problem in Libya (Africa). The poet Abiola Inioluwa is a poet/singer and a spoken word artiste based in Lagos-Nigeria.