Stagnant River
Ogunbanwo Oluseyi@oluseyiogunbanwo258714
4 days ago
What dost I have to do with thee, thou stagnant River?
What merits dost thou prescribe?
What resources dost thou preserve
What creature benefits from your state?
For your source thou has forgotten
Your inlets thou have blocked
Your refreshing aura has disappeared
Your tributaries are dead
A scourge you are to the thirsty
A snarl to the dirty
A curse to the sojourner from another country
A shame to the Indigenous men of craft
Where is your refreshing power of yore?
Where your water heal everyone with a sore?
Where men and women at your bank endure
Where folks with curious illnesses were cured
Thou stink and thy appearance presents a reproach
Filled with all manners of weeds and wastes
Poisonous to aquatic animals
Useless to the men of craft
Awake thou dead River!
Remember and return to thy source
Open up your inlets and let freshwater flow
Connect your tributaries and release your waste
Then shall thou be pure, crystal clean like the river of life
Providing healing and health like River Jordan
Attracting friends and tourists who find relief in your freshness
Creating means of joy and happiness for men of craft
Sayest I this to the river without life only?
Nay, this I postulate to the men of knowledge,
Who are not ashamed to acknowledge their declining state
Men of contrite heart, ready to return to their Maker
-Oluseyi Ogunbanwo
#poetry
