no prescription cures a country nobody loves-Tanure Ojiade

years back I saw  a nameless schoolgirl form Ojojo, Warri.
surrender her recess-rice coin to a beggar, one
smeared with the biting indifference of passers-by--
even the ant knows the other's stronger need
and brings the millennium closer to a spiteful lot.

The driver who rescues his van from a treacherous puddle,
then stops to plant there a red flag
founds a fellowship that deserves universal membership--
this rarity gladdens the heart.

And these do not make history or network news,
these do not earn national awards,
these do not crow on rooftops.
Their gestures are magical in their silence--
the ant builds a monument without fanfare,
the very ant that knows the other's stronger need.

And no prescription will cure the sick country
nobody proudly loves an inseparable flesh.
Has it ever happened here that the priest offered his blood
to stave off the vesuvial scourge he foresaw,
has it happened here that the sharer forgot himself
to raise the spirit of the eighty per cent lowlies?

Even the ant knows the other's stronger need,
and no prescription cures a sick country nobody loves.

-Tanure Ojaide