"Ibe"

 "Ibe"

Ibem, my mates have moved on...

Their journey tracing the barely travelled paths. 

I tried to whet my feet on the stones of grief

To brush off the blunt faces of happiness 

Gazing at my slumber and slugger

Mana ijem siri ike.

Ijem, the voices we hear

Call our feet to various crossroads 

Where decision and fate tumble upon each other.

You call to mind the day we set out,

Eager as each smile opens a new chapter of this phase

Mana nkem no na akachukwu.

Nkem, the voices of love that refuse to grow faint,

Through the night struggles with life,

Through the roaring laughter of mockery,

Through the jeers of small minds,

We have risen a great clan forged by sincere tears, true

 love in one heart. 

"Ka Chi Foo"

"Ka Chi Foo"

There were lonely days sown in this dark corners,

Where I started my walk through life.

I remember them vividly like the sound of my first name TOCHUKWU in the mouths of my busybody neighbours.

I saw the wall yawn with hunger

As it reflected the images in my belly

I knew I could drown and die in the tears that Lay with me like a lake full of sharks.

The nights were so long with the constant filtering of noise by nocturnal creatures

The dawn was so far beyond my reach

No plea could ever bring it closer.

I had a neighbour more like a brother

Our names both had a T although his had life in it than God: TONDU.

He kept his affluence behind close doors

And constantly handed me a feigned pity. 

And yes, I took it.

I had a lover. Had like past possession.

She hid in the dark. I heard her voice faintly but loud were her straying and fleeing steps

My heart flutter, not of excitement but fear.

I had hope with smouldering coals

I kept fanning its embers 

They kept my heart warm

So I hoped that it wouldn't take long

The cock will crow

Ka chi wee foo na ndu m

The Saviours

 "The Saviours "

On the Wake of independence,

A strange coldness was poured on emaciated souls.

Then came the goosebumps

The trepidation,

The uncertainties

Which plagued the tender nation spreading so fast like a ravaging pandemic

Through the fabrics of her soul.

Black swiftly became white

As truth glaring became lies

The night settled finally with its full weight

As bleeding feet scamper aimlessly in the enveloping darkness.

Yet the nation trudge on

Despite losing her two eyes

The blind led the blinds

To walk the thorny path of democracy.

Here and there,

Ambushes were laid on this wounded nation

By men of uniform

To wrest power through the guts of bullets than the ballot...

But She fought tirelessly,

Smeared severally in bloody coups,

And fierce protests;

Her heroes fell and others rose

Until she escaped into the waiting arms of thieves in rich caftans and lofty campaign promises. 

THE SAVIOURS who saves us not.

"Christmas in Gaza"

 "Christmas in Gaza"

Look beyond the prejudice in the news reports

And see our little peaceful town 

Caught in a whirlwind of blasting bombs and chattering guns.

Look there, 

a young mother with an amputated arm wails over her dead two year old

Caught by a bullet shot with precision.

Our streets are littered with the breathless heaps of our young men,

Fighting to repel a blind ravaging bull.

Our old men weld machine guns,

with their near-to-dead sights.

Blinded by both rage and age.

Fighter Jets fly over heads

Heading for our abandoned homes.

They open their dark anus

And empty their waste on our homes

Turning everything dear to rubbles.

The sick, 

The wounded, 

And the maimed litter our refugee camps

But there is no physician to tend a plagued nation 

Our physicians are now fighters.

"The war must be won!" they say.

I miss the serenity of the nights spent at home,

I miss the bedtime stories and the peaceful renditions of prayers to Allah,

I miss the excitement of our playgrounds,

I miss the clattering of cutleries on plates filled with delicious meals,

I miss the peace we shared with all its colourful forms,

Before this strange night cast its haunting shadows on us.

Dedicated to all the people of Gaza. I pray the war ends soon

© Poetry

©Emeka Collins

"She is"

 "She is"

The earth is blind.

I must say that the earth chose to be blind.

Because how can anyone not see how she toils away at her task?

Morning, afternoon, and even at night.

Was it nature or men that tossed it on her?

Because she seems so peaceful in her storm.

With the rising sun, she sets out

Like the mother hen to search for daily bread.

Many said she has a lazy head

Who depends on the crumbs from her troubles.

While he folds his hands in his chest

And makes jest of her with his friends.

Morning, afternoon and night

She toils away at her task.

Hoping and praying that fortune would smile back at her.

And ease the weight on her shoulders which weighs heavily on her.

She manages to smile through her pains,

For daily she has to wear this mask.

The hope of a mother is in her labour

Like a patient farmer 

She sows her seeds at all season

She guards it to ensure that none is missing.

For everything giving to her by God

Both Woes and worth

Nothing should be missing

Even when they might not miss her when she is gone. 

"The Poem and the Poet"

 "The Poem and the Poet"

I wrote you a poem.

Yes, I wrote you a poem

It was neither to mourn you

Or call you.

But to announce my retracing steps back to my shell.

Where I once was till your beauty wooed me.

I ran leaving my senses aside

But bearing burning emotions in my heart.

It was tender. 

It needed to be tended. But it died in the heat of neglect.

"Believe Love"

 "Believe Love" 

I could sing you a million melodies,

Of where our hearts met,

Through the rough roads of unrequited love

To a place where we sits gracefully on a throne: the thrones of our hearts. 

Your face shone through the unwavering shadows,

To kill this darkness that held my soul captive.

It wasn't freedom at last

But freedom that will last through this new found joy to eternity

Where we will at last know love without doubts.