There she was
With beautiful blind eyes
Seeing not the curvatures of her sisters
Minding not the muscles of her brothers
Moved not by pocketed mounds --
Mounds they say move the world.

Firm she stood
Wrapped in a pearly robe of sparkling stones
A scale on one hand
A sword on the right hand
Cutting down trees that kill the wood
--Trees with bulged stems and flowery leaves
--Trees with sick roots and spiky barks
A priest from a peasant she knew not
Her right hand fought for the rights of all
Who dwelt in her hood.

There she still stands
Draped in the green
Of leaves alive but dead
Coloured in the white
Of books bright but burnt.

Now here she is
Wide open, her two eyes
Boring into the mounds of pockets
On her knees she crawls for yams
Watered by her niece's blood.

Lady Justitia has partaken 
Of that corrupt yam meal
And her robe has become like the earth --
Collecting libations of palm oil.

Ugochukwu Anadị is a student of the University of Nigeria.