Silence Of The Gods Poem by Nweke Emmanuel

Our faces have been marked by the scars of suffering
Our lives wasted in toil
Our beings consumed in the offerings
Yet... the gods say nothing

What kind of life is this
Our lips have been shut like taps
As we wonder about this great silence
Coming from beings of great essence

The gods have refused to speak
Making us whip dead horses
Digging the soil day and night
Counting our hopes on our labors
Yet ending with grievous murmurs

Our children have become beasts of burden
Our wives parade on tattered clothes
Why this year again
Why? Someone should talk

Is there an abomination in the land?
The gods refuse to say
Are we on test?
Ekwechi does not know

Come let us think of what to do
This is the third year of harvest
Our animals are dying because there is no grass to eat
Our crops are failing because of the three years of draught

Who defiled the land?
Talk! Someone should talk!
But how can we know?
When the gods have refused to talk

Go to your homes and put on your shoes
Bring the remaining rams and she-goats
The seeds of offerings
Let us go to the shrine

Come let us go to Ekwechi the eze-dibie again
And ask why ajana refused to send the rain
Why she refused to bless the soil?
Why our labour this year must be in vain?
Maybe this time the gods will speak.

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