To Sarogua, Rain Maker, by Ken Saro-Wiwa

We have returned

With empty hands

And hollow minds

From the thunderstorm

Raining blood

Oh mighty one

Whose wink brings rain.

We did not pray for war

Wash the stain of strife away

We’ll speak no more

Of coups and colonels

And raids at dead of night;

We’ll forget the bombs

Build scores of tombs

And bury the dead.

Receive us, mighty one

With a cleansing shower.

Poet and writer Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed by hanging Nov. 10 in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, after a trial before a government tribunal. He was an outspoken advocate for the economic and environmental rights of the Ogoni people in Nigeria.