Liberia, 172 as old as she is too much has been taken away from her
There is too much that has been lost to greed
Until there is nothing left but hope
I feel that sense of forlorn
That emptiness
No joy in the land anymore
Dreams are misguided and unrealised
A trick door and trap
And a hell where heaven should reside
When one reflects her past
There is a deep-seated voice of sorrow
That sorrow that echoes that we’re too old but yet poor
Even to babies born today
That voice whispers a nation worthless of its existence
That voice drives us to school and work every morning
When our imprisoned soul departs our bodies
That voice escorts our mortal remains to the graves
It laughs high at our families who mourn our deaths
Our families who accused us of leaving behind a seed of discord
That voice is repetitive in our ears
In light of the dominance of its eloquence
In spite of the power of its persuasion
Declaring there is no better day that lies ahead
Yet, we say its voice is a lie.
Yes, I believe it is a lie
In hope, there is a better tomorrow
Ushering the end of our sorrow
Even if we think narrow
We may choose to look back at our failures
Yet never allow our fear of failure
Overcomes our desire for a better tomorrow
We may place so much hope in our leaders
Yet they may let us down
But we must never let ourselves down
When the promise of basic social services is unachieved
Trust varnishes
Legitimacy erodes
Authority revokes
Through the power of the ballot
Power transfers to a new administration
It hurts so much
To the extent that pro-poor means curse to some
While change for hope means change for crooks to others
You may seem not to believe in broken promises anymore
Yet never allow your hope for a better Liberia fades away
Pro-poor has come and will go away
Yet too like the True Whig Party
Maybe, like the Unity Party too
Muyan Muyan has come and is fading away so soon
It’s no longer a slogan of hope
But rather a battle-cry to loot
A catchphrase of despair
And a melody of regrets
Jaja… Jaja…CDC Jaja has faded away
But let hope in us fade away not
Without hope, we cease to exist
Our suffering becomes acute
Our pain so ceaseless
Concluding that the whole world has turned against us
We may even hold the belief for some us
That Allah has turned his back away from us
That Jehovah God has turned his back away from us
That Buddha has turned his back away from us
Even those who worship Confucius and Gandhi may think the same
But irrespective of the faith we separately belong to
We should never lose faith in the existence of our God
He is still alive
He lives on
He is the God of yesterday.
The God of today
The God of tomorrow and forever
He hears our supplications
And He will grant our requests
Don’t lose hope, please
Let your hope for a better Liberia remain strong
When our economy melts
From solid to a liquid stage
Then to the gaseous stage
The only thing that is left is hope
Hope that one day one day
Especially one fine day
An economy evaporated from a liquid to gaseous stage
Will come back like a rainfall
Falling on the zinc of every house
Not only on the house of the rich
But also on the house of the poorest of the poor
Then Liberia will not be a land endowed with natural resources
When its inhabitants are poor
It will be a sweet land filled with milk and honey
A land where meritocracy reigns over mediocracy
A land where technical know-how reigns over technical know-who
A land where honesty triumphs over dishonesty
A land where patriotism substitutes sycophancy
A land where the emperor will not be told that he is wearing clothes
When in truth he is walking naked
A land where police officers no longer harass taxi-drivers
Simply because the monthly wage is too little
For some
Hope is lost when they develop certain expectations
Expectations that are bound by time limit
Imagine students graduating from college every year
With varying degrees
Hoping that it’ll guarantee employment in the labour market
When it wouldn’t
Imagine a student sure of getting a scholarship to study abroad
Sadly, when it doesn’t
Hope evaporates
Goals become unreached
Dreams deferred and unfulfilled
Deep lingering sadness takes over him
It drains his existence
Making him live in imprisonment and chained with regrets
Killing the person he could be
Then for him, life becomes meaningless and possibly unjust
Eventually ushering his dreams to the grave
That dream of fetching for superior knowledge in a foreign land
That dream of changing his community and the world over
That dream of becoming an entrepreneur
That dream of becoming a lawyer
That dream of becoming an occupational and environmental health specialist
That dream of becoming an engineer
That dream of becoming a banker
That dream of becoming a medical doctor
That dream of becoming a university lecturer
That dream of becoming a representative
That dream of becoming a senator
That of becoming a president
That dream of becoming a responsible and caring father
That dream of bringing up a decent family
But in the final
He realizes that wishes are dreams that are highly fulfilled into reality
But I say to you, never lose hope
Not even when the future seems bleak and doom
Not even when degrees don’t guarantee you a job today
Not even when a scholarship to study in foreign land goes away
Not even when the leader you voted for
Becomes a Pharaoh wrapped up in Moses’ clothing
Not even if our nation witnesses the greatest economic decay ever in world history
Not even when public officials turned public looters
Looting your country to the brink of collapse
Never throw away the power of hope
It’s only the presence of hope that kills the cannibals
Feeding on the corpse of our nation
For the loss of hope keeps us in an unending search for answers to life’s meaning
A lost hope puts you in denial of the existence of a just God
Please don’t quit
Let’s keep the spirit of hope alive
Never allow a particular situation to make you toss away the spirit of hope
If the scars on our economy and its attending misgivings harshly endured
Must vanish like a cloud of dust in the vacuum
Let hope reign forever
A hope that says there is light at the end of a tunnel
A hope that says we can revisit our electoral choices and right the wrong
A hope that teaches us to love our country over our leaders
A hope that teaches us to love each other
A hope that says if our leaders failed us yet we should not fail ourselves
A hope that says Liberia will never return to war
A hope that says in our diversity let unity reign
About the author
Julius T. Jaesen, II, holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from the African Methodist Episcopal University on 34 Camp Johnson Road. He is a licensed grassroots political organizer, speechwriter, message development specialist, researcher on Harvard University Academia.com and Grin.com. He is also a published author. He is an Associate Managing Editor at the Parrot Newspaper. He can be reached on the following:
Email addresses: coyies2004@gmail.com / juliusjaesen@gmail.com
Contact numbers: +231886661061/+231776585152
WhatsApp: +231886661061
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