Abandoned African Statehouse

He was a big man, says the size of his perimeter

and watch-out towers around his compound;

A scared man too, say his armoured vehicles

in a strongroom nearby; and not God-fearing,

say the Bibles rarely opened

in every bookcase of this citadel, smelling of print;

but not a man of the people, says the jewellery

cluttered with rocks and shiny metal.

Women lived with him, sometimes, say the photos

in his safes and, some yellowing with age

and some very young mistresses your kid's age-

not surprising he had no children.

Money here was more than could be spent

While millions of his subjects starved to death,

Wealth too was amassed in large quantities.

But 'twasn't happy here, says the gloomy surrounding.

Something went wrong, says the empty house

and the bullet riddled walls. Debris outside

say it was a coup; done the African way,

and the gloomy environs of this stately house.

He must have left in a nervous haste,

says the fact that he wasn't killed. What do you expect when you rule for decades, and your country's a mess? Something went wrong, for sure.