SNAPSONG  264 

August 3, 2025 by Niyi Osundare

When NEPA kills the light

It kills the Nation’s Light

It is seven days now since the sun

     Beamed its blessing

On our shy, expectant brows

     The clouds stand still in nonchalant distance

Like airy sentries between

     The sky and our wondering eyes

A strange, unseasonable cold has stolen

     The warm imagination of our night

As trembling dreams mock the truth

     Of our fraying blankets

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And frigid fabulations unnerve

     The motions of wingless yearnings

Idle window panes burn my fingers

     With their cold, immutable temper

Even as the hinges crick and crack

     Between the posts and their swinging doors

Lightless labs, humless factories

     Merciless markets, aching pockets

Forbidding threnodies; the frightening

     Rhyme and un-reason of Hunger and Thunder

But a thousand hilarious hurrays

     For the priceless Super Falcons whose honour

Scored countless goals and warmed a billion hearts

     Beyond the orgy of dizzying dollars.