DIDACTIC: "MY OWN DEAR SOIL" BY SULAIMON KHALID

In this country, my own dear soil,

rights have found their way

out of our books

wandering the streets

in search of survival

for survival is no longer a gift.

morning, not like before,

birds no longer argue

with the dawn silence

outside our windows;

for even hunger has learnt

the language of the wind.

now, generators sing

to our ears,

replacing the morning bird's song

for those who hold the light

seem to have signed for darkness.

The roads have become tales

in the history books

and each pothole

a symbol of forgotten promises

an artefact of a broken nation

a monument to failed leadership.

We fold our dreams

into our pockets

like worn-out currency

hoping that tomorrow,

if it's still legal tender

it will still be worth tomorrow.

Children grow older

than their ages

learning how to walk broken roads

learning how to run

learning survival

before they can spell

their own names.

yet, our loudest voice

seems to be just a whisper

or a mosquito's song

to the ear

of those who sit on our chairs

but they hear, they see, they know

and they love

to watch us drown in sorrow.

they love it,

as we mourned yesterday,

as we mourn today,

and will mourn tomorrow;

as every morning arrives

dressed in pain from head to toe.

and they love us, in pain

they love it, as we feed on hope

knowing well,

that there's little hope left,

in the nation's barn.

But the truth is

hope has become our daily bread;

men and women live by it alone.

We eat

without shame, without butter.

We refuse to die.

© Sulaimon Khalid

- Nigeria 

"My Own Dear Soil" is a powerful social protest poem that portrays the harsh realities of life in a nation plagued by poor governance, poverty, and broken promises. The poet laments the disappearance of basic rights, widespread hunger, unreliable electricity, and decaying infrastructure, using vivid imagery to show the suffering of ordinary citizens. The poem also criticizes leaders for ignoring the people's cries and allowing their hardship to persist. Despite the despair, the poem ends on a note of resilience, emphasizing that hope remains the people's source of strength and that they refuse to surrender to their circumstances. Overall, the poem is a call for justice, accountability, and national renewal.