The pestilence or the plaque
Like in the time of Pharaoh
Like Nile like River Benue
Blood flowing across the bank
Benue my home!
Benue our bone of bones
Benue that supplies 36 pots
Helping our bans
Benue occupied by swarm of bees
Bees hanging on the food basket
Chasing motorists, commuters at Wurukum
Bees of war crashing the bridge
Mission to North Bank impossible
The bees and their white moo waiting
The beasts hanging on police guns
Olokpa can’t pull the trigger
Benue in shambles
Benue crying moo falling to moo
Strangers arriving midnight
Grabbing the guns
Chasing landlords
Benue my home!
Benue my fatherland
Where are you?
My Benue lost in the Nile
Benue like Chibok
Benue like Sambisa
Benue now my Zamfara forest
Agatu now graveyards
Silence everywhere
No sirens
No noise
Only the moo we hear
Strange language now our rhymes
Moo have stopped the moon
Their stars stopping our shine
Their moo destroying our crops
Yet silence-shush
Instead of sack gunshots in salute of their deeds
They say we have come now
We got you now
No escape
How many more to go
Blood of the lamb for sacrifice?
Benue now sacrificial lamb
Where is my Benue?
By Ali Adoyi