I used To Love Her
by:  Ejiro Osilama 26. Nigeria
I used to love her,
I did.
Africa; that lady.
Beautiful and proud.
I loved her in my childhood,
When all I knew of her,
Were warmth and juicy fruits,
when I was Kissed gently by the sun,
and it's heat caressed me.

I loved her still,
Africa; that woman.
Before I understood her struggles and
while I scorned her strength.
In the first blush of my youth,
Before I knew more of her bitter history and her
storied past.

I loved her,
Africa; that Whore.
When in my old age, I saw her again.
She had been taken by strangers and raped,
again by her very own.
The face I see on her, wrinkled by pain
And her bones creak with humanities age.

I used to Love her,
Africa; that beauty,
In her hay days of warrior women
and dignified palaces
And now,
through her indignities and crumbled pride,
I love her even more.