10 November 1995 (A day, a month, a year)

From blackest dark night

Dawned the darkest of days

For nine Ogonis

Shackled, shuffled, one by one,

To holding cells from prison van

Accused

Arrested

Tortured

Convicted

By corrupt kangaroo Court

Cruelly condemned

Killed

By darkest of deeds

This darkest of days

For uncommitted crimes.

Shackled, shuffled, one by one,

To scaffold and, there, martyrdom

Murdered

(“..their lands devastated by agents of death;

..their atmosphere polluted;

..their waters contaminated;

..their trees poisoned;

..their flora and fauna disappeared”)

By the combined tyranny

Of brutal dictatorship

And international oil.

Shell-shocked, shellacked we looked on!

Note: (Ken Saro-Wiwa and 8 other Ogonis, murdered in 1995, by the combined tyranny of a murderous military dictatorship in Nigeria and international oil corporations, their lives a great testimony to the human spirit of love and compassion and self-sacrifice for their fellow Ogonis and others.)