Today, I saw a mysterious thing
A thing that vexed me to my very soul
I saw the black man dressed like a king
But crouching in the shadows with a begging bowl
His children were starving in fields of cassava
Dying of diseases the palm kernel could cure
Homeless in a land of rock and timber
“Why are you begging?”- He said, “I am poor”
Today, I saw a mysterious thing
A wonder so great I cannot tell it
I saw the black man dressed like a king
But lying in the dust, crying at my feet
His legs were sturdy like the iroko
His forests were rich and teeming with game
His muscles rippled like the proud Zambezi
I told him, “Get up!”, but he said, “I am lame”
Today, I saw a mysterious thing
So shocking I have no words to say
I saw the black man dressed like a king
But standing like the lost by the highway
He huddles in a cage that had no gate
He could see where the keys to his chains were kept
He stood in clamps but they had no weight
“Why are you here?”- He said, “I am trapped”
Today, I saw a mysterious thing
Oh! How can I tell such a horrible story
I saw the black man dressed like a king
But he was sharing a sleeping mat with poverty
His poverty was a fat man with a bulging stomach
Lying on his back, beside a pot full of treasure
This knowledge was all he seemed to lack:
That he could get up and make his own future
——