01 Oct We Are Not Yet Free
We Are Not Yet Free
by Foluke Ifejola
We Are Not Yet Free Every 1st of October , Nigerians celebrate freedom,
We remember, recall the day we were set free.
Were we not born equal to all, were we not born free?
And through the millennia, we have been chasing the elusive promise of freedom.
Not when difference can still result in death in Maiduguri or Maroko
Not when difference determines our destiny
Not till the works of our hands can bless our lands
Not till our bodies and minds and spirits are loose
Men and women, loose from all sorrow, from all of pain.
Not till our voices are free, not till our voices are heard equally,
Not till our minds and visions and dreams are free
Not till we see the face of justice,
Not when the land confines us,
Not when we are imprisoned by false borders
Not when we are chained by the scripts that aim to define us.
Not till tomorrow is certain.
So this is not yet home
This is not the promised land,
This is not yet uhuru,
We cannot yet sing liberdade
We have not yet tasted ominira
Our journey is not yet at an end,
Our destination is still ahead.
We may be on the mountaintop, but paradise lies beyond the horizon,
Here on the mountaintop, paradise is in sight, paradise is within reach.
Liberty belongs to those brave enough to take it,
Salvation belongs to those with enough faith to believe it,
Peace is for those with hearts big enough to wear it
Freedom belongs to those wise enough to understand it.
And then we will be free.
But not yet.
But when will we be free?
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