Bring no Bloddied Balm in Obama's Name

Hope can never die. For when hope dies, We, with ashen faces, teeter towards the brink of nothingness. Even as the 44th president of the USA is inaugurated,I want to give a tribute. I feel the urge to celebrate a man of audacity.But, there's a stronger passion that burns in me now.There's a heavier burden

This is not for the US of A. Though, I celebrate and gyrate. I cannot but take time to reflect on my nation.What i zoom my telescope on is a 'seemingly' normal part of us....
the 'alaseju'
(Alaseju is a yoruba expression for someone that does something to the extreme)
it is in us.
like a curse

Painting other people's house when our's is falling apart.
We go wild about Euro-sports,
Who cares if eyimba burns like a timber!

In Nija-English parlance:
"our own sef is too much"

And now, Obama's name come's like a balm
Seeping through the veins and muscles of every-born.
...A bloodied balm.
As it shall heal,
So shall it kill.

No more shall we be judged by the contents of our skin
(there's hope for white-washed 'sisi-eko's here now
and an endless "eeya" for our own MJ)
But, by the time-tested content of our characters.

Today, change is.
It breathes with life,
With a mission guarded in living dreams.
Dreams...
The dreams of our fathers....

"Their" father's anyway

We imbibe that dream....good
We aspire to grasp it...Good
We stand on tip-toes and reach for it...GOod
We even dance bata towards its warm embrace....GOOD!

Afterall, of what good is a dream not shared
Even, Joseph had to share his before he became the "baba-isale' in egypt.

Alas! the "alaseju" would not make us stop at that.
We have injected America's change, into the ailing body of Nigeria .

The walls are closing in on us
Our currency shrinks in our purse
It meanders in the thick forest of global economic depression
Jos crises still rises in the papers

The "Alaseju"....
We waste the day in lamentation of our nation
We keep vigil at night for Obama's inauguration!!!
Aren't we the proverbial tortoise,
that visits the celebrant and dances and jubilates much more than the celebrant?

"32year old Akin Salawu from Brooklyn"
That was how bbc news put it.
He was obama's campaign web developer and a lead supporter of the young politician.
Hmmm...Akin Salawu
(I wont be shocked if he's from my small village in oyo state!)

Akin Salawu...Toiling day and night for obama
His is just a name out of the millions of Nigerians, that would have died for obama to be president.

The "Alaseju" syndrome again!
Now transcending borders and coasts
Has found it's way into the hearts of nija's in diaspora.

We do not live in Nigeria, neither do we breathe in this vast air-space
Nigeria lives in us. We cannot by chance reverse that place. So, when we are ready to pay that price of sacrifice, of unconditional love:(bourne out of unity and faith), of volunteer-work, of community spirit, of hope, of dream, the dreams of our our own fathers, then, change will come.

At the precipice, change shall come.
And like the old Negro song that made up the oratory of Dr MLK,
We, as a people shall one day sing:
"Free at last, Free at last,
Thank God, We are Free at last."

But in the mannerism of the new President's Dressing
We've got to roll up our sleeves
and work for it...right here, in Nigeria.