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Yes, They Slap Court Judges In The Land Of Honour By Niyi Osundare

October 1, 2014

(Here again, the Impunitous Barbarians)

Part 1

They slap Court Judges

In the “Land of Honour”

Eewo*! Yes, they slap Court Judges

In the “Land of Honour”

The sin-phony from falling blows

Tunes up to a harsh and ominous tenor

Image

 

They beat up the Law

And loot his pocket

Yes, they beat up the Law

And loot his pocket

Then club Court Clerks

And burn their docket

 

Ah, rogbodiyan**! The Temple of Justice

In such profane disarray

Rogbodiyan! The Temple of Justice

In such profane disarray

Fleeing lawyers have lost their wigs,

The “Land of Honour” its noble way

 

With absolute confidence and full command

The Rabble-Rouser, Chief Ass in this Assault

Yes o, in absolute confidence and full command

The Rabble-Rouser, Chief Ass in this Assault

Emperor-in-Waiting with a sleazy sway

Whose very presence is a mortal insult

 

My way, my way, or NO way, NO way!

His usual song, his usual story

Say, My way, my way, or NO way, NO way!

His usual song, his usual story

The mob who contrived his crown

Will surely face the future’s fury

 

 

*  Abomination!

** Turmoil

 

           Part 2

 

 

Slam shut the gate

The Barbarians are here again

Say, slam shut the gate

The Barbarians are here again

Their Stone Age shrieks and dumb insight

Lend a tune to our air of running pain

 

 

Behold this Medieval darkness

So soon after our rousing Renaissance

Hah, this Medieval darkness

So soon after our rousing Renaissance

Painful irony now, the “Land-of-Honour” tag

The news never comes today without its newsance

 

 

Days of dread, nights of terror

Shivering streets enslaved by fever

Alas, days of dread, nights of terror

Shivering streets enslaved by fever

The Id of Amin is out with its cannibal Ego

Dissident skulls in his capacious freezer

 

 

The people went to the market
They forgot their mind at home

Yes, the people went to the market

They left their minds at home

The gold which claimed their fortune

Is nothing more than a tinsel chrome

 

 

Here once again our season of shame

The Fountain of Knowledge a cesspool of weeds

Agbaga*!, here once again, our season of shame

The Fountain of Knowledge a cesspool of weeds

A rabid thug is back in the saddle

Another vulgar ride on our precious name

 

 

*Alas

 

     

 

 

 Part 3

 

 

They slap Court Judges

In the “Land of Honour”

Eewo*! Yes, they slap Court Judges

In the “Land of Honour”

And the Hero who wrought the feat

Is on his way to a national honour

 

 

Lawless country, unruly rulers

Primal jungle, mindless muddle

Haba, lawless country, unruly rulers

Primal jungle, mindless muddle

Shambling, shambling  from error to error

Between the pit and the perilous puddle

 

 

In its stone castle near the desert

Abuja sees nothing, hears nothing

Say, somewhere near the desert

Abuja sees nothing, hears nothing

But who doesn’t know the mob magnate down south

Commits all his crime at Abuja’s imperial bidding?

 

 

This house is falling

Our rulers say it’s only swaying

Alas, this house is falling

But our rulers say it’s only swaying

The hyena laugh from the throne of power

Has kept the wise forever wondering

 

 

Impunity mates Immunity

And the union begat Imuniti*

Say, Impunity mated Immunity

And the union begat Imuniti

The land writhes in the stranglehold

Of those who handle our fate with levity

 

 

*  Unarrestability, beyond arrest; unaccountability

 

 

                Niyi Osundare     

Topics
POETRY