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 </div><p></p>You are black,<br>
You are wise,<br>
You are beautiful,<br>
Of creativity are you full.<br>
When you dance<br>
Wriggling your curves<br>
From West to North<br>
They stare like morons<br>
Lost in your Eastern prowess –<br>
Irene.
<p>In your eyes I see Ohafia dancers<br>
Chanting war cries<br>
Dancing frenzy to the tune of Zik’s ‘opi’<br>
And the tantalizing beats of Okpara’s<br>
‘ekwe’.<br>
Don’t blink, Irene!<br>
I can see it now, so vivid;<br>
The tall green plantain trees<br>
Dotting Okonkwo’s orchard,<br>
The tall palm trees along the narrow<br>
path<br>
Towards the stream where Luggard<br>
The haggered met Shaw.<br>
I see it, the royal scepter;<br>
Offor Obi Onicha<br>
Traded for the white-man’s gin<br>
And the city christened Onitsha.<br>
I see the dreamy Ala Ngwa<br>
I see the wooden couch Grandpa lay<br>
on.<br>
Okonko chanting<br>
Nwanyi Ubakala dancing<br>
It’s the Yam festival I guess.<br>
Umuaka at his feet – Dee Acho<br>
Narrating the wisdom of tortoise.<br>
The chirping birds<br>
The croaking frogs –<br>
nature’s annoying midnight choir.<br>
Please don’t blink, Irene;<br>
Is this the land in the East of the<br>
Niger?<br>
What’s the stream of tears for?<br>
Irene?</p>
<p>Helpless I stood transfixed.<br>
Like erosion, floods of tears sweeping<br>
Down the hills of Enugwu,<br>
Ruining the greenly farm of ugu.<br>
This coal was a blessing<br>
Until the exploitation craze<br>
Blew Ndi Ocha to Africa.<br>
They sneaked into our serenity<br>
Stole our culture<br>
And gave us ‘Creed(stain)ity’.</p>
<p>From Akwaette to Arochukwu<br>
From Asaba to Igbo-Ukwu<br>
Your grace, Irene have been subdued,<br>
You’ve been betrothed to a fool<br>
Who beats you black and blue<br>
Yet cleaves to you…<br>
Interwoven into a coat of many colours<br>
A riot of diverse mental colours.<br>
Oh dotting treasure of Ojukwu<br>
The Negro Royal Scepter.</p>
<p>Oh Irene<br>
The legendary Ada Owerri<br>
The Japan of Africa<br>
How are the rays of your Sons<br>
Reduced to twinkling stars?<br>
Must you remain in Luggard’s blunder?<br>
Irene!</p>
<p><a href="http://poetry.wrr.ng/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Nigerian-Poetry-IRENE-by-Stefn-Sylvester.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-17018" src="http://poetry.wrr.ng/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Nigerian-Poetry-IRENE-by-Stefn-Sylvester.jpg" alt="Nigerian Poetry- IRENE by Stefn Sylvester" width="718" height="500" loading="lazy"></a></p>
 
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