Esto Paratus, Be Prepared!
They are not coming for North
They are not coming for South
They are not coming for tribe
They are coming for all.
You may soon wear that news
You scroll past daily
Danger is not just bullets
Not banditry, not terror alone
Danger is our numb hearts
The dinner after kidnappings
And festivals after beheadings
Forty-seven held hostage, we chew rice
Community burned, we hold festivals
Family sells property for ransom,
We scroll to entertainment features
School children cry in the bush,
Party primaries take place here and there
Know this: it may be you
Your mother in viral video
Your father’s head on ground
Your head inside their pot
While we chase normal, nation dies
Nations die when fear becomes habit
Not when first gun fires
Not when first blood spills
Nations die when fear feels normal
Roads unsafe, forests unsafe,
Farms unsafe, churches unsafe,
Mosques unsafe, Schools unsafe
Children leave homes with prayer,
Not with lunch, water and hope
Farmers till with trembling hands
Businessmen count losses, not profits
Even sleep happens behind fear
With one eye opened!
We don’t ask for jets
We don’t ask for honours
We don’t ask for the share
Of our national cake
We don’t ask for mansions
We ask to return alive
To leave home and come back safely
North bleeds, South watches
Wrong bullets don’t ask for tribe
Wrong bombs don’t ask for region
Kidnappers don’t check your religion
Down pour soaks whoever it sees
Not in any colour but deep red.
Insecurity is fire without border
It starts far but spreads everywhere
What burns them today burns you
Silence is gasoline and not security
Hope rots when graves multiply
Investment flees, schools become empty
Farms turn to ghost land
Dreams die untimely death
Fear reigns in words and deeds
And becomes our lingua franca
Get this: they are not coming for North
They are not coming for South
They are not coming for tribe
They are coming for all
And like Boy Scouts motto,
‘Esto Paratus’, Be Prepared!
(c) F. Mosh
