FOR KUDIRAT ABIOLA

In an age where lawlessness prevailed

Where the common man was the criminal

Where guns ruled and blood trailed

In this time, a woman stood regal

                                  

A fighter for  democratic rule

A stickler for the rights of humanity

Like a warrior in the battlefield

The distressed cries of a distressed age

Kept her resolve

Persistent, courageous

Trudging the high path

Of the women folk

When the armory and guns spoke

And no one dared speak in return

When freedom was known to none

And bullets were courage’s cloak

There she stood

Calling for democracy

Refusing victimisation

Providing refuge

Staying strong

Yet she stood

A leader

A veteran

Of the women folk

Yet the khakis could not still

Abandon this heinous ill  will

And allow a free community

With rights for all humanity

So on she fought

Not like the Khakis

Not with bullets

Nor armory

Not with torture

Not with killings

But with her voice

A voice

A voice that seemed to loud for them

Of the women folk

A voice that was silenced

By the bullet

A woman’s voice

Yet lives on still