Pipes For Fortune's Fingers

To say no creature eats carcass Is but mockery to you vultures and hyenas I spit before your throne You whose whips I have always known Who drowned the fish in my rivers And made barren the soil of my mothers You who made my children slaves And did leave me near my grave You have broken my hardest coconut And have cracked my snail's shell have you not? For you watch the future to perish Filling pockets with gold more cherished You chew me and with my bones pick teeth The truth has been what you make of it Is it not you who married my treasures And offered no price for your manly pleasures Longer ago than I care to remember You killed good men and claimed their daughters You who danced the dance of shame And brought forth bastards to bear my name Power foretells what man believes Worthless are morals the noble give You live above your earnings Never bearers of good tidings Ye are men whose greed still lingers Ye are the men who slew I Nigeria Ye are mere pipes on fortune's fingers