A sonnet-reflection following a summer (rainy season!) trip to Lagos, Nigeria, half a century after my first visit to the West African nation.
Burnished bright in blazing
sunlight Hope waits
Sword held high and reins
gripped tight, his steed neighs
Silently in the ranks of
bronze horsemen;[1]
Minted heroes pledged peace and
better days.[2]
Ancient kings, coral-crowned heads
cast in bronze [3]
Share space with new gods;
‘big men’ of today
Carved from clay, sculpted,
waxed, smelted. New bronze
Polished for vain men ‘neath storm
clouds so grey.
And in shacks and shanties; shady
old sheds
Lie dusty old bronzes no-one
could sell
Customers long gone and traders
now fled
To lands where hopefulness
still casts its spell.
No Victor! No Vanquished! [4]The
old dream died.
Now four grim horsemen[5]
ride up, side by side.
[1] Tourist
stalls in the early 1970s were packed with bronze effigies of cavalry men
belonging to the Northern Nigerian Sultan of Sokoto and his emirs. Before
colonialism they had been the shock troops of the Sokoto Caliphate which had
stretched over large areas of the Sahel.
[2]
The Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970) ended with genuine reconciliation and hope
that newly tapped oil reserves would benefit all and finance a resurgent modern
nation.
[3]
Bronze heads of the kings (Obas) of the ancient Benin Kingdom of south- central
Nigeria are still cast today alongside brass heads of contemporary politicians,
businessmen and traditional rulers. However the tourist trade has died.
[4] Post-war
Reconciliation Slogan in early 1970s Nigeria.
[5]
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse – Conquest (either Christ or the
anti-Christ), Famine, War and Death.
6 comments:
I love the ending to this -- a very apt way to end a sonnet. Sombre.
The photo is a very useful accompaniment; the sculptures within it are rather interesting.
Your pieces are always informative, and I like the notes section.
Our sonnet garden is being well-tended. Twenty and counting -- a successful writing mission!
Alex
Very thoughtful and the notes very interesting, a world I know little about. I'm not surprised you felt this as something you needed to write.
I'm reading this sonnet on a short trip back to Lagos. It's very apt. Friends and even acquaintances ask if we can help their children get jobs abroad. Sadly they don't see any future here.
Dear anonymous - it's so sad and here in the UK we're sucking in all the Nigerian graduates, health care workers and teachers we can get to prop up our understaffed public services as no one will pay for those people to use their skills in the Nigeria which desperately needs them AND moreover PAID for their education and training. Good for the individuals who can move but so bad for Nigeria.
Such an interesting piece of writing Liz but it confirms for me that all I have read of the unrest in Nigeria is true. Like Irena, I know very little about the country except what I have read in Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngosi Adichie, a wonderful novel, and in what I have learnt from you. I like the notes at the end.
I like your poem. You wrote well.
However, I and most Igbos would disagree with you on number 2. There was and is no genuine reconciliation.
My father lost 3 good houses in Port Harcourt to the “Abandoned Property Decree” as did many other Igbos.
After the war Biafrans were given £20 no matter how much we had in the banks.
Head offices of corporations were moved to Lagos. The oil company HQs were in Port Harcourt, Warri etc.
All ports were shut down except Lagos. Til today Lagos is the only operational port.
The Indigenisation Decree - were people with £20 able to invest? Of course not.
There is so much that is lopsided.
Do you know that in every election Igbos lose lives and are told not to vote (thuggery is used) and to go back to the East??
Look at the cut-off point for universities - I’m sure there’s an official name for it- if you’re Igbo your score has to be very high whilst a northerner can get into university with 2.
The playing field isn’t level.
Nigerians have never “japad “in such large numbers.
As you said our best brains are outside the country.
Right now all government is doing is borrowing huge amounts of money and living large off it.
No roads, no hospitals, no schools, no bridges. Nothing.
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