Dilemma Of A Westernized African
Born in Africa
Bears Western name
With African flavour and identity
Speaks Queens English
With little or nothing of the mother tongue
And sometimes without even the general tribe language
Taught in English or French
Assimilates within the context of the local environment
With difficulty to reconcile with all the borrowed senses and practices
Oh Africa, when shall we trace back to our roots
We owe nobody nothing
But we sold ourselves out the beauty devils
Who have painted the us evils in words and in deed
Oh Africa, we worship gods of the devil’s
We dress, speak and act like the devils Leaving our shrines from ancestors crying for our returns
Oh Africa, how long shall we continue to live in darkness?
How long more shall continue to bear foreign names?
How long shall we continue to abandon our common heritage?
Oh Africa, are we no more than the prodigal son in the devil’s script?
Can we see how China developed with everything indigenous?
Can we not see how powerful Russia is believing in themselves?
Can we not see how our chief tormentor pulled out from her own European Union?
Trying to rediscover herself
Only to notice it’s highly belated with little or nothing to benefit from.her new independence
Oh Africa, come back to mother Africa
Come back to your indigenous culture
Come back to yourselves
And no more to your detractors
Oh Africa, are you not ashamed that everything you have now is alien
From ordinary name identity to food
From clothes to shoes
Schools to hospitals
Roads to railways
Spoken words to writings
Worship centers to ideologies and many more
Oh Africa, what is wrong with you?
What is wrong with your name?
What is wrong with your wealth?
What is wrong with your land?
Africa, return to yourselves,
Return to common sense
Return, return, return, oh Africa.
C. O. Nwonu
chrisnwonu85@gmail.com