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Worth Dreaming

Drawing of a typical african village
Image: Lifewater

I was awoken in the middle of the night by hurried footsteps and muffled sounds

It was people fleeing their homes; lives they had built with love and sweat

I saw devastated towns and heard agonising shrieks

Frail hopes and splintered dreams 

The soil was drenched in crimson

Which vile poison has consumed men’s hearts?  So potent, only a drop sullies the mind and skews right judgement.

This has to be a bad dream, I thought to myself, this infernal scene unfolding could not be real

But I could smell the fear in the air, I could feel the resentment that pervaded the land

Young and old bewildered, in a frantic effort to gather fragments of our lost humanity

This was no dream, this was youth being decimated, ideals trampled underfoot and ambition crushed haplessly  

How have we become encumbered in this hateful cycle of malevolence? What will stem this unholy tide of wickedness? Is there solace for the grieving?

On the other side of the future, raised hands and joyful choruses could be heard

A great nation emerged from firm purpose and profound values

Propelled by beautiful young  minds and determined leadership

Local commerce prospers, just as equity and justice are freely dispensed

Wealth has become a transformative life blood as resources are evenly distributed

The course is steadied, this beautiful voyage can only get better

I thought to myself ‘Is this a reality worth dreaming about?’

Silence prevails, it is almost dawn, there is much work to be done.

Arise  Nigeria, Greatness beckons.

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