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a world without brotherhood and justice is not worth living in |
ODE OF THE CONDEMNED Why do you stare at me? What have I done that your eyes shine brilliantly through me that you look surprised But why should you be? Wasn’t it you that led me Or do you forget so easily What you told me, what you promised and never kept Why do you yell at me? What have I done that you didn’t knowingly give me that you are shocked Why should you be? Didn’t you say you will give me shelter over my head Bread in my mouth And hope in my heart and you never did Why are you ashamed of me, O ‘brother’? You should not be ‘cause tis you that put me here You said all we had we would share That we would have equal chances, Achieve the best from our fathers’ legacies. But from the beginning it was lies and empty promises How could you, ‘brother’? You should know Man cannot live without hope Nor can he bear total despair You being who you are would know From desperation, comes nothing but revolution You know For in your veins flows The fierce blood of our fathers Why do you then now scowl ? Because you promised to give me shelter And didn’t I took it, why do you scorn? You promised to put food on my table You didn’t I took it, why do you frown? You said you will adorn my heart with hope And you did not You furnished it with anguish So I took from you that which you selfishly kept for yourself Then why the contempt when I only long for better And now you revile me How can you? You stand there your hands raised in blame With angry eyes, you proceed to give judgment. That cannot be You cannot point the finger at me, ‘brother’ For it is what belongs to me that I have taken I have done no wrong I have not held what was not mine Not broken any vows Nor told any lies Can you claim the same, ‘brother’? And you say I must die for my sins Ha! I laugh at you Your sins are greater than mine No rights have you to judge me Nor can you condemn me Or hold me I am indeed beyond you Nevertheless what you pronounce for me I will not contest Death is preferable than to live with you, ‘brother’ To live in your mockery of a nation I prefer to go far from your deceit From the misery and pain of your unfairness Instead I condemn you to your agitation, to your injustice and your fake brotherhood. To your nation of rogues and scoundrels Of thieves and cutthroats A nation of the greedy, the wicked, and the saint less A nation you created my ‘brother’ Because you never kept the promises Here, I will leave you Passing my own judgment on you Condemning you to life in the world you have woven with your own hands To live and never be blessed I renounce you as you have condemned me But my fate I readily accept O ‘brother’, will you accept yours? MURTALA ASSAYOUTI |