NEPA: A Poem on Life in the Dark
This poem captures the familiar frustration of unreliable electricity in Nigerian homes, schools, places of worship and workplaces. Dark nights, hot days You spoil our fun and ruin our plays The fridge is warm, the stove is cold Hunger in the house is strong and bold You come and go, you go and come Unsure, unstable, like a dizzy bum A bright surge now, then a yellow candle Our darkest fear you hardly kindle Sweat at work, sweat in the homes In churches and mosques and their towers and domes Factories go without a hum The cost of your darkness is a pretty sum Our books unread, homework undone Though we stay awake till the dark, dark dawn NEPA, oh! NEPA Some say you rhyme with “leper” In your dark we grope And it’s hard to cope.
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