If Poem by EZEKIEL HARUNA DANBAKI

Dawn's creeping
And the sun with it
An owl from a distance hoots an awakening call- her morning symphony
Clouds swirl and twirl and the wind blows in slow haste-a promise to rain milk and honey
If the sons of the tropical soil
Will uncover their tools and toil
And able to steer clear
Through the burnt-out atmosphere
If machetes of brutality are beaten
Into shovels of nation building
So that love and peace lead the ancient paths
If culture scored and lost will not in hesitant
Answer the call to her mother land
So men grouped in tens dine from a tender sekenu leaf
And women take turns in the arena dancing in not brief
If boys and their females will walk the moonlight path
To baba Atama's compound for their lesson in math
Adding and subtracting values in a song-like counts of the fingers
Guided by the yellow flames of specially dried tinders
If worthy men of old
Can see clear through the fumes of yesterday
Mining from intelligence locked up for long
And able to recover abandoned dreams and ideas
The distance will be near
And there will be here
And bright will be the African nights.