Come this thunder
When the nights glitter with explosions
The resemblance of firecracker carnivals
And as the rattling for supremacy
Is heard from heartless machine guns
Spewing seeds of destruction
Upon unfortunate children and men
‘Kwaa-pu kwaa-pu kwaa-pu, unu dum!’
‘Leave here,’ the agents of death say
Flying limbs, headless bodies and chaos
Destruction to humanity and justice
But the world stood watching
As children turn pale, clutching
Hungrily to their protruding intestines
No salt, no salt, no salt!
Meanwhile, the jets throw their bombs
Murdering defenseless people and clans
The infantry is filled with anger
Bloodthirst, frustration, and revenge
And the world watched it all
It was an action-packed movie
But let the fowl allow the worm to be
No matter how they choose to live
For freedom is deserved by all people
Who desire it wholeheartedly.
Notes:
Line 8: Kwaa-pu kwaa-pu kwaa-pu, unu dum! An onomatopoeia for the sound of heavy artillery, and in Igbo, meaning ‘Leave here, leave there, leave here, all of you!’
For Biafran babies and Christopher Okigbo.
