The Hired Shepherds

Gone are those times,  if ever such times were seen
When rustic shepherds shepherd their flock on nutritive green
Shepherds now lead their sheep to calamity and damnation
But today, the sheeps cry out for urgent and drastic redemption 
Weary and tired in their age-long captivities 
Now interested in their awakened sensitivities 

To each other, they said, there's something we can do 
This is our land, the land was here before us
With milk and honey it flows, its territories an oasis of safe haven 
Calm was the land, then things began to happen
Our shepherds, our trust, our hearts has broken 
And today, their leaky umbrellas we have broken 

Falling from darkness to a place of uncertainty 
Everything is moving with no recorded velocity 
Crawling from the known to the unknown 
The sheep sheepishly arrived at the unknown 
The change, everything she's changing
 No change is this, only a changeling 
Hoping for a relief as time and tide passes
Alas!  More darkness our territory encompasses 

Hired shepherds, their sacred duties have abandoned 
In vain hope their wickedness to us by us shall be pardoned 
Shepherd umbrella and shepherd broom are just but alike 
Our resort and determination to live in all they dislike 
For decades something evil has been withholding us 
At last we found out it was nothing but ourselves 

Tell the lazy sheep, their laziness eschew 
Death sentence, their dominance on us ensure 
Let sentiment not guide our affairs as mortals
Common sense, our resort controls in total 
For our woes, our sentiment endlessly compounds 
In unison, our freedom, genuine minds propounds 

Cease then that grief, and let those cards decide 
If emotion rules us, be that emotion guide 
If passion rules us, be that passion pride 
If reason, then good reason our minds provide 
Their piercing brooms, our flesh have broken 
Shall tomorrow, at moon light by grace be broken 

Orochi C.  Joshua, 2018, @all right reserved

Copyright © | Year Posted 2018



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Date: 6/5/2018 3:40:00 AM
We have two major political parties in Nigeria, the PDP and the APC and their logo is an umbrella and a broom respectively. The PDP has been in power since 1999 with little or nothing to show for it. In 2015 there was a kind of revolution and the PDP was ousted and the APC took over. However, APC now is not doing any better, 2019 another election year is around the corner, the electorates are not happy
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Date: 6/5/2018 3:14:00 AM
Oh thanks my good friend, Becca Reagan, you're very kind and I appreciate that. First of all, I'm not a professional poet, I just like putting words together. I would need your mentorship, Becca Teagan. Now for the poem, it describes the sorry state of my country Nigeria. Our political leaders, who I called hired shepherds are not committed in delivering the dividend of democracy to the people. But, today there's awakened political consciousness in the country
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Date: 6/4/2018 10:22:00 PM
hi. I have read this through a few times and I'm still not positive I get what the underlying meaning is, but I definitely can take away my interpretation, and it's a good metaphorical political piece. Would you want to comment about this poem? I'd love to hear.
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