Nigeria, April 22 -- ONCE UPON A PLANET

(For Earth Day 2024)

The sky above our head is A ragged umbrella in need of a needle

The rain which leaks through the rupture Is a cocktail of contending toxins

The cloud up there is a wet blanket Dripping like a dirge upon a feverish earth

The birds fled several season ago Without leaving a forwarding address

Prodigal saws have felled the joy Of flourishing forests

There is a twilight stanza In the song of the wind

Several seasons ago we sowed the Wind The Whirlwind is ripe for our heedless reaping

The Earth we used to know Is once-upon-a-time

Niyi Osundare, one of Africa's foremost poets and academics, is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of English, University of New Orleans.

Published ...