Don’t burn bridges they say
But what if the bridge is born by fire, sustained by heat
Like this bridge on the Niger
Where fellowship and conciliation cast their feet like coal mines
And hope is stretched out like an eternal tourist guide
From upper Iweka to Kano,
From Orlu to Lagos
People, nature, industry, culture
Everything is on two-way transit
Pedestrians crisscrossing daily between Onitsha and Asaba
Like slow shooting stars
For whom this bridge is a branch of the tree
Family here and friends there
There’s no day, there’s no night
Not so serene, but virtue triumphs
in peace and progress
