CHOOSE SKILLS OVER GREED

See
See the work you’re piling on our history
See
See the problems wearing troubles fast turning scary mysteries
Don’t you feel a pinch when other lands celebrate victories
…through the work and truth they pour into their destinies?

II
I know inferiority was imprinted in our thoughts
But that’s the reason many have bought books and studied a lot
I know corruption was an inheritance imposed by needs
But don’t you choose what you do with your property
…when it drains you instead of shape you?
You enrich nations beyond your borders with greed
And poison your own waters to feed your seeds
Knowing you only have yours
…and no other
Why are you piling problems on your own history?

III
Is it a wonder some rebel?
They cross rivers
Fear giving them shivers
Anxiety buying them quivers
Still success acting drivers
…of their heads, your own people
Your very own people
Because they have no greed money to pass through the right channels
To go live in the right places where curses seldom reach
You know some turn fish foods beneath the ships they board
You know some turn snake companions in deserts
…thirst taking their lives!
You know some are turned into slaves
…killed in the name of the shame you basically bought them
You know some on their home-grounds await the return of their dead
…and never get to be told by the corpses of the waited
…their ordeals and loss
I wonder if their deaths eventually give them courage to act detectives to search for them
…or still turn them ghosts to stay in their homes
…waiting…
Why pile problems on our history?

IV
See as a virus drives the world
…and some nations feed their tongues
Have you thought of your many
…hiding in basements
…dying of hunger but still refusing to show their presence
For fear of repatriations?
They are your people
Hiding from you because of what you don’t do
…to sustain them
…to encourage them to stay in their homes
Don’t shake your heads
What don’t you buy from abroad?
You buy matches
You buy clothes
You buy printers
You buy cars
You buy food grown on your lands and processed for higher prices
You buy shoes
You buy building materials
You buy toothpicks
You buy beds
You buy oil
You buy diseases
You even buy mouth fans
…from hypocritical non-entities
And you sell cheaply your labour with laziness as your currency
How can you be free of blame in this shame?

V
Is it a wonder even China who feeds fat on you
…render your people homeless in Guangzhou?
Is it a wonder you live a panicking
…as money gets you no ventilators
…and masks
…and gloves?
You sold the gold of skills for unimportant papers
You now see human skills are not worthy of those currencies?
While others grow their people
…you grow chins and bellies
You now see, don’t you?

VI
You think Cathedrals and mosques
…when your hospitals need ambulances
You think bigger houses for parliament
…when your masses live in slums
You know other nations work on affordable housing
…which are actually affordable
You know other nations spend on research and laboratories
…which actually work for findings
…embracing the bad
…celebrating the good
Where are yours?

VII
I don’t want to seem like I’m harvesting hatred
…in these times
But the wise child learns from fewer words
…to turn their lives around
You know Africa is your only ownership
…and your only owned
So when those murderous deals come into your thoughts
Think
Think of these times
And choose rightly
Choose skills over greed
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © April 18, 2020