Before Independence Poem by Jamila.i. Bello girei

BEFORE INDEPENDENCE
Centuries of suffering
Decades of slavery
In the hands of the nasara
We are abundant waste
So abandon our skin was

But yet that freedom and country
Was still our legal right
Our love, happiness and freedom
Was locked and sealed
And thrown away into a deep dark sea

That pride and power was owned by them
Our great parent were all eyes
Traded and beating like goods and slave
Treated like unwanted parts
But yet time was their patient

Our precious charcoal skin
Who can bear more than that?
And live stronger than them
Our homes have become into grave yards
For such that the sun hasn’t risen

But one gracious and remarkable day
Our dearest patient of independent
Our dripping tears was to be upheld
Our new dawn has unfolded
A new sunrise has risen

A new life and beginning
Has just begun
My freedom
Your freedom
Our freedom