SILENCE !

Silence!
This land where non-human
Operate and vanish into thin air
Never to be trailed forever

Silence!
Are they really spirits?
Do they take the shape of men?
But they carry guns
And operate like the human

Silence!
The hard chase to procure a plate
The perpetual phobia of morrow
The uncanny fright the young may grow
Who holds fate who only awaits its time
But man toils in vain

Silence!
The perils of politics immature
Ige, Okadigbo, Harry, Dikibo, a lot more
A lot more, unknown, unnoticed
Were they victims of their own whims?
Were they victims of robber's bullets
Those from the non-human?

Silence!
The khaki is a lame man
For who pays is the master
Our prisons full of the innocent
As the worst crime denying life
Prevails while stealing only a penny
Stagnates the unlucky behind the bars

Silence!
Handfuls of sand are quashed
With impunity, lifeless lives
Blood assembling beneath the soil
How awful - death trap for the living
That one day, an ocean of blood
Sets forth for vengeance

Silence!
The ghosts of Zaki Biam grieve
The graves of Odi yell
The children of justice query
The lost souls of Jos, Delta grope
People here weep to no avail
And await God to look into them

Silence!
Death, death, death, everywhere
Here Niger Delta, there Darfur
More in Iraq, again Gaza, everywhere
Where are the human beings
God made with His Own Hands
To dwell and expand life?

Silence!
Thread not hard upon this land
Where beneath sleep quashed innocent souls
Where upon sleepless stained and stainless struggle
Where beneath the quashed await vengeance
Where the acclaimed powerful flesh abhors exit
Where the quashed have condescended to might

Silence!
Let there be peace nowhere
Let mercy be drifted off hearts
Let no man be human
That when all eyes become red
Man will fear no more
And peace becomes natural saviour

Muhammad Ajah is a poet, writer and author ([email protected])