Muttering voices

 "Ifeanyichukwu" Your race was a short errand, Like a short-lived sprint; You ended yours in the heat of the moment  Who would blame you? Your path was thorny and scary Peopled with bruises and scars Inflicted by hands hiding in the dark. You had a brave heart That rose and fell with a warrior's tremor You fought for many as yourself  You fought with many and you fell. The fall caused a silent earthquake  Within your late father's obi The one you were called to watch over  With the eagles eyes. But you fell On a ground already wet with our tears of hope and prayer, But you fell Into silence that gnaws the heart  with sorrow forever.

 "Graveyard Tales" Dust to Dust Dust has come to dust For every man must bear his cross  And the boundary of life and death all must cross.  Does this word cross your thought? The glittering facades of life Makes the one eyed man forget his debt to blindness  He dances lavishly on another's grave Forgetting that his isn't far from his backyard. Suddenly joy is lost halfway between smiles Lips are crossed amidst laughter  The grave has eaten its sacrifice  And it is still hungry. 

 "My Funeral"   When it is my funeral, I won't let my ears be deafened by the noise of phoney mourners Weeping for no lost love Nor let their tears wet my parched grave. I will search their hearts than their faces I will listen to their thoughts than their praises I won't be swayed by the slippery words that lay at my feet. I will look for the purest grief  And warm my cold feet and hands there. I will look for the hearts that cheered my soul In the days when the midnight struck like a thief. I will promise blessings and vengeance  I will forerun their friends and outrun their foes. I promise not to let death win. I will be like Okonkwo that threw the cat that steals many lives. I will quench the fire of the hearth  Unsit the pot  And blow the ashes away I didn't ask for a feast but a farewell.  When that day comes, Refuse to carry your worries  Gag the whimpers of your doubts  Death will be my voyage to the finishing line.

 "Ambivalence" I bear a flicker of light Sometimes smouldering  You can't see it It is hidden somewhere in my soul Blown here and there by the wind Tossed to and fro like the sea I tread paths Winding like the curled body of a snake  Dreadful, unspeakable  It is like wonders. They are like questions caught in between fallen teeth, Entrapped, howling silently to the roof top If ever words are enough, If ever thoughts are able to imagine  How life fades as it begins Or how each day leaves despair for the next Yet when tiredness encircles our whole To sleep we must go And shut our eyes from all that we are  And never want to see.

 " Two Black Hawks " The day breaks open like an over-incubated egg into brisky and hot halves, Perfect timing to serve vengeance like cold ice cream, And bury the hatchet with the hands that bore it first. The hands that dealt the first gruesome blow, The hands smeared with the blood of innocent citizens, Dragged into the cauldrons of death by religious bigotry.  The Black Hawks swooped with precision and mastery on their targets Years of sweats and swears Have prepared them for this flight; Their target hides in the haven of forgotten sins  far away from the scene of his crime , Praying to a bloodthirsty god With a blood-stained subha Held within trembling fingers  Death came by the first shot And several shots rained To wet the parched throats Of dead voices calling for revenge. Dedicated to the victims of 9/11 attack

  "Ozoemena" I could see their faces through the shadows; The faces that shine and hide stories untold And songs unsung, Of victories through defeats, Of silence through chatterings. Skies don't hang o'cast When glee like the sun does rise; Rainbows come after the rain, Theirs hang there in the middle of the storm that swept us away. The ends means no more beginnings; No more tears, No more struggles, No pain, The end we all dread like a plague. Sudden knocks; Heaven calls; Man bestired; The world unshaken, Man his course must run. Tribute kicks us so hard on our heads like a military boot, Sobs, heaving of the heart, and noiseless shouts rise and fall with unmatched rhythm. The world and things must fall apart Like bottles broken in a street fight All we have are wounded heads And grieving hearts. #Poetry #elegy May comfort all the families of the bereaved in the unfortunate disaster that happened in Enugu. Ozoemena!