POET OF THE WEEK: Mujahid Ameen Lilo

Song of
the Herdsman

I wander in search of the greens in
My country’s flag
Leaving the sweetness of my maiden’s breasts
behind my huts of flowing milk and
The poetry in our brittle skies

I’m a passionate patriot
I’ve my country’s map in my palm
My feet have memorized the roads
Like my verses
The soil knows I’m her son
My cows answer your beckoning Bia
They sway their tummies, wag their tail to Wa
At other side of the Niger

Your forests fear my charms
They know the wand on the back
Of my neck
Don’t deny me slices
Of supper cake from heaven
I choose not to be a flower
That suck its nectars!

I am the sailor of the Niger
I refuse to be a stereotype

My cows are not Indian
And we won’t bite your apples
And we won’t trespass
And when summer saunters in
I shall sail the way my compass points
My shadow, my silhouettes
Shall leave your shores
To where the muezzin calls and
The sun is red as hell

I shall return to the minarets
To the pyramids and
Tamarinds
Up North!

Lilo is a freshman at the department of English and Literature, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He came second place at The Nigeria Prize for Teen Authors 2020.