POLITICAL POEM: "WHEN I WAS A TODDLER" BY HAP B

When I knew neither my right nor my left,

When my mother was my constant guardian,

I once overheard my father,

Uttering a statement he once heard from his father:

"Nigeria go better."

And here I am,

7,320 days later, under the scorching sun and amidst dark clouds,

Having walked miles through shadowy paths—

Struggling, striving, hustling, and masking fake smiles.

And here I am,

When the hopeful youths stand on the edge of despair,

When bad governance dominates every road,

When corruption has become our daily meal,

When 14-year-olds have mastered fraud,

When 16-year-old girls have been to the birth bed more than 16 times,

When countless young, promising lives have been claimed by sharp cutlasses—

From the hands of their best friends, their blood—for the sake of money.

When many parents care little about their future,

And the future of their children and grandchildren.

When Nigeria's economic graph is like an unstable stock chart,

Skyrocketing with an escape velocity impossible to reverse.

Yet like my father’s dream, his father’s, and his great-grandfather’s—

Nigeria, one day, will get better.

And like the sunflower,

Awaiting the next day’s shining sun,

I will wait,

Hopeful, with an optimistic heart,

Praying for a better Nigeria.

I Will Wait

Happy Independence, Nigeria @64.

_HAB P.

#sakahabeeb01

- Nigeria

The poet personae unveils how his parents have prayed for a better condition in Nigeria. Yet, even after decades of the voice's life on earth; he is still found praying for a greater Nigeria. The poet persona is optimistic about the development of Nigeria.