Yesterday I could cry and shed watery tears
I could labour and freely shoot watery sweat
But today
Not so, not so
Riverbeds turned dustbowls
Rivers diverted into private throats
Creeks turned into rivers of salt
I sweat blood
And weep dry-eyed
Our fathers and forefathers and mothers and grandmothers say waters from
Streams and rivers, creeks and lagoons
In their days
Were clear, odourless, tasteless, healthy
In their days
When we talked of process none guessed we
Were in the process of privatising our throats
Choking our taste buds on caustic soda as
Process waters from drill pits and fluid effluents
From eucalyptus paper mills attempt to paper
Over the pains and deceits of reckless tycoons
Draped in dark cocoons of international finance plans
To subjugate and to squeeze and commodify
Our sweat and tear drops
Our fathers and forefathers and mothers and grandmothers say waters from
Streams and rivers, creeks and lagoons
In their days
Were clear, odourless, tasteless, healthy
In their days
Dreams of sparkling streams evoke surrealistic brushes
Fishes dancing past steel hooks and reedy traps
Pebbles and sand dragging divers’ plunge for hidden treasure
Throve centuries saved from prying eyes
I look deep into your heart and see
Fossils of forgotten dreams
Calcified
Histories like far removed tales
Crabs long eaten, turtles hurtled
Into distant lands
Our fathers and forefathers and mothers and grandmothers say waters from
Streams and rivers, creeks and lagoons
In their days
Were clear, odourless, tasteless, healthy
In their days
Last night kids danced in acid rain
Doubly warmed by infernal dragon tongues
From gas flares
Empty shells, lifeless sockets, death everywhere
Forlorn men, backs broken, homes long gone
Sit on benches of plastic bamboos
Whistling for fishes from acid lakes
Craving for mudskippers from tar ponds
Our fathers and forefathers and mothers and grandmothers say waters from
Streams and rivers, creeks and lagoons
In their days
Were clear, odourless, tasteless, healthy
In their days
Once I could cup you in my palms
Now captive in plastics
These logos are they your makers?
Spring waters spring from ubiquitous boreholes
Polluted waters marketed as life giving fluids
You spring surprises don’t you?
Who made the robots that rob?
We demand
Free our waters
Jail the water crooks
Polluters and thieves!
Our fathers and forefathers and mothers and grandmothers say waters from
Streams and rivers, creeks and lagoons
In their days
Were clear, odourless, tasteless, healthy
In their days
By Nnimmo Bassey, Environmental Rights Action, e-mail: nnimmo@eraction.org
