Diamonds Are Not Forever (2)

By Louis Egbe Mbua

Came they with askaris floated,
On rafts; ships with men bloated
With an army with big guns moved,
From the land of the Duchess carried
By servants of doom so parried,
To whimps; caprice of masters inclined,
To conquer; seize Diamond and plunder,
The indigenes starved and camped,
In a places crowded; to wonder,
Of what becomes them; to wander,
With no hopes of Diamond lost,
In fight, to preserve diamonds cached,
But found by the master; watched in lust;
As the owners forgot; vanquished
The battle, so tense, so hard, gained
In the highlands; to sea they chased
Until sweet victory was coined,
With diamonds on a date classed,
As of infamy; the day marked,
By the world; when time and land stood,
Motionless; generations passed,
And new diamonds found: shone
In the midnight moon circled,
By mysteries yet unknown.
So goes the history of old Cam,
Ushered into a new age of con;
With bright promise yet to come
'Cause diamonds are the land filled;
So came the Gems people; and some
Of good; meant good, others bad, so filed;
The natives in camps to form slumps
In the horror camp: toil forever,
So Gems may diamond inherit
And them take to Duchess: in fever
That gripped entire Eur' in an instant,
And causing all Princes a quarrel:
To scream; Give me more! my laurels!
The Chief Prince, a ruler a strike gave,
A glance on diamonds, a pen swiped,
The diamond, one-fifth gone, four-fifth came
To a frightening end, broken: smashed
Into parts; thrown aground wasting;
While natives weep for Diamond, wailing,
And all wailed; but Gems not anxious
To placate egos; of men trapped
By cunning, treachery; Gems conscious;
Of this weakness; apathy planted;
In minds; native Diamond owners;
Who continue in great poverty;
Then one-score years turned corners;
And Gems overthrown from property,
By one, no two kinds of powers,
From Eur' they came; shared spoils:
One-fifth that way; four-fifths of towers
Of aroma pleasant in leaf foils.
Then powers sat; in Versa decided;
Agreed hand on terre; entrusted
To champions; pax mondial chided
By men on mission encrusted
At helm 'seers of Diamonds captured
From Gems' first attempt designed
To rule en terre; with men tortured
As people; second class forced
To work on plantations seized
With no compensation sourced,
From Diamond product exports prized;
For their exotic character nurtured
As nature wills to command;
In Le Monde Diamond as cultured;
In songs, dance, drama to amend.