iAmDiipo

HOPE We are the last ones left Left behind in the hail of dark dusts Raised by the dying souls of our fathers As they hastened into the trenches and By and by unto their premature ends Our mothers have lost us They bathed us in hot tears The tears they shed for our fathers And left us to dry in the sun Now they have all gone, gone Gone to the village market, never to return We heard, the enemies overtook them They sucked dry their breast-milk And left them to die in the market square We are the last ones left Our mothers lost us Ere they taught us to sing to the gods Who will teach us to blow the Oja Who will teach us to beat the Udu We are the last ones left Left behind in these hails of dark dusts Of echoes of gunshots and bombs Of fractured dreams and limbs Of hungered scalps and malarious stomachs We are the last ones left We are the children of hope We shall dry our tears today We shall repair our dreams As the sun rises We will hope. Diipo Fagbolu