This work is not meant to be political, its simply a work of literature.


"One, two, three to ninety-six vehicle
Were deployed to smash the biafrans. Five hundred armed soldiers accompanied "
He wrote
Down the lonely path like a line of ants
After a sugar cube,
They traveled
Their faces lined with danger
And breath smelled of death

Ka boom, ka boom, ka boom
Their bombs would go when they see the enemy
Tai, tai, tai
Their guns would ring out as they marched inward to deliver death's package

Slowly but firmly they progressed
Into the hinterlands
Into the heart of the new born African child
To deliver death to her infant bed
To snuff life out of her tender lungs

Ka boom, ka boom, ka boom
They heard
One, two, three to twenty
Had fallen.
Tai, tai, tai
Twenty-one, twenty- two to forty
Is gone
They stared around in fear,
Their death's mission forgotten.

An ambush had they walked into
"Retreat, retreat, retreat" their major shouted
But death has marked them as his.
They froze there,
Unwrapping the package meant for another.

The children of the young African child
Had risen to defend their mother against her stronger and older sibling now turned enemy,
With their crude home made weapons they fired with zeal.
Soon none remained of the ninety-six nor the five hundred
Their bodies lining the tropical roads of Abagana,
Made in britain weapon laying down dead next to them.

"Minimal loss of life on our side" he wrote again
Savoring the taste of a rare victory.
The death of five hundred celebrated
As if life had no meaning
As if their existence was surreal and a burden to the earth

Inspired by Achebe's There was a country page 173