"Watchman, of a Ruined City" by Joshua Omenga

Watchman on empty watchtower

Into this bleak future, he peers

Behind, the ruin looms

Of your beloved country:

Flow of blood on thresholds

Wives ravished before husbands

Parents butchered before children

Aged bones suffused in offspring’s blood…

Watchman, report this horror in your land

Where each step treads

On the soul of a lost dear one

Kindred bones lie asunder

The eyes cannot see the nose

Everywhere, this redness in your land

Testimonial to your elite’s greed

Invites questions for the reckoning

Watchman, on this gloom

Of your country’s doom

Turn from your watch-post

The enemies are within

The devouring wolves of your lament

Are dwellers in your pen

Those whom you shelter

Are the causers of your sorrow

The torches have gone out

The last cry at the rooftop

Signals your city’s extinction

There is no assuage for remnants

Soused in brethren blood

Watchman on this watchtower

What mystery shall you tell

Of those who have gone?

Dip your brush into their blood

And paint their gory history

Joshua Omenga is a 500-level student of the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Lagos State.