SUN-Rise in the East

A poem by Christabel Inah and Chinedu Nwadike, members of the Elite Debates & Talks Club (EDTC) at Spiritan University Nneochi (SUN), Umunneochi, Nigeria — celebrating the young university’s place among our Spiritan institutions of formation.

The sun hangs up in the firmament
Cooing the world awake by its light
But fading to night-time for the moon and stars.

Kilometres away but nearer to us
The sun’s twin rises like a fragile shoot
Destined to unfurl and cast its light around.

The one is a celestial orb
The other is Spiritan University Nneochi
Each a sun, each to its territory lays claim.

SUN is not the one in the sky
Not the keeper of day and night
That lends glow to the moon.

Briskly, as the sun rises in the east
With a tremor, SUN takes root in Umunneochi
Its glow cutting through nations and continents.

A place where minds are shaped
Silence teaches better than city noise
And ambition grows without haste.

It was not the dream I first imagined
Yet becoming more than I struggled for
A work in progress for every soul with purpose.

Modesty walks with discipline
Knowledge not bought but earned
On premiums of academics and character.

As the sun shines and transforms the world
So this SUN must shine
It’s always sunshine at SUN.

Read the full poem on the SCCAI Substack: SUN-rise in the East