Muttering voices

"When the Face you Detest is You" It is easy to stare in the face of sinners with holy anger streaming from your face, Smirking gleefully at their foulness, And priding in your self-bequeathed sacredness. Because your robes are white, And your titles high But, hey, what of your heart? You leap on every wrong turn, Crying the law and its damning consequences, Hell-bent to uphold a law you never held. Like whips, your pious smile Scourge their errant souls. From your fiery sermons, two faced-sword Proceeds to slash these damned hearts Beyond the reach of your high-handed salvation. Every Sunday, you wear your scarlet gown With a wig hanging loosely on your head, And a blood dripping gavel in hand, And then sit infallibly on men' sins And dispatch them to the hands of cruel Justice Forgetting you're dust too. Then suddenly, the pendulum of truth Swings to this other side, And you are standing before your foil The breeze of heaven blows on you phoney soul Leaving you bare...

" Bound for the City" Growing up in this small village Felt like a ghost watching his body being interned unceremoniously I was detached from everything else that had a taste of joy. Like a stranger, I kept on wandering far away From the land, from the people, from their dwarfed dreams and shallow fears.  My soul was like a raptured explorer, distant lands held peace and hope for me Far away from the gloom and unanswered questions That plagued my restless mind, Spurring up this journey that is set on my feet. Still, I will take the love of the loved ones along And the remaining pieces of my cherished rags, Such precious remains shouldn't be tossed away so easily. Because its presence breathes the past that I have sworn to part with. The city they say is a wild, To survive you must roar and fight off Other predators like your poor soul, But at the retreating steps of the day, You are sure to return home with a reward as much as your sweat. Yet my soul is bound for this wor...

" Conversation with an atheist Lover" Last night  before sleep stole the light in your eyes We talked about making babies in the clouds And call them angels And they will be so fine  That God will be jealous of our Kind. We laughed out loud It echoed in heaven And I heard God sigh It was deep and throaty And we wondered why God is always a man. He could have been a woman  That sings duduke like Simi Then we wouldn't bother the angelic choir "They will just come and dance shaku shaku with us," you said. You said God can never be a woman. He is a man! Maybe that's why he keeps quiet When men steals into a woman's body like wolves And run off smelling blood and greed. I sighed now but more deeper and throaty than God. I wanted to say I doubted. I wasn't too sure. So I kept quiet. I wondered why such evil lie in man. Most men? You said no  That some are beast and God enjoys watching them feast. I thought I knew God, At least better than this, I really th...

"Falling" Keith walks with mirth in his eyes Like a child that just got a new toy His feet were quite unstable Wobbling like he gonna fall. Has he not fallen already? Why bother rising? He stood against love all his youth. Its presence at home was a sham "It was only a shadow." He concluded: "Since it wasn't at home,  It couldn't be found elsewhere." But he met defeat today Staring into the warm glow of her eyes He fell like a faint feather He could grudge or muster a whimper His heart was finally freed for his prison. He finds himself in a new world He isn't so sure how to walk But he is happy he got something to lean on If he falls  Someone that won't let him fall Like a mother to her toddler learning to walk.

"Somewhere Over Here" I know a couple, They have a home in a small room At the extreme right-hand corner of a compound with adjacent rooms. Their faces reveal a desire for a better life A comfortable haven far away from the remoteness of poverty and hunger. Their lips barely uttered a word They communicated languidly with cold nods and weak gestures. They are what you would call an unfortunate family in Africa. Their hopes as citizens were stolen that morning when the mutilated election results were announced on air Which was greeted with despair and disenchantment They know it will be another quadruple years of scorching promises and penury. This couple have a family: Two worn-out adults and two kids yoked with constant infant illness. I know this couple. They are my parents. I am their sick child. We might die tomorrow. Come and save us.

"The Return"(in the memory of Chukwuemeka Akachi) My last rememberance of you  Was that night we held hands And you let mine slip away You walked far away back into the night That you let it darkness envelope us Or was it just me that was lost in this madness that cocoons us in mid-day. I could hear the castles we built in the air fall apart; this little mansion that fits us so well, where love mends our broken whole. Your absence roars at my weak self I crouch and die gradually in silence I wish I could cry But no one will hear me. They're use to my pain; they no longer bother. Each morning wakes up with its own sadness Each night falls with its own tears. Every yawn is a yearning for you Every mourn is dirge for you. I look helplessly at the door you banged On your way out.  Hoping you walk back this way again  or I die a prisoner of your return forever.     

" The Cycle" You don't know how it feels To be stabbed the second time, the third time, the fourth time... You won't feel anything again. You would only learn the habit  Of seeing yourself flow out of you in red fluids like a broken pipe. You despise the morning for bringing the thought of living You wish for the nights for it bears the alluring face of death.  "I am a fool again," you exclaim, "To give you my broken pieces." "I thought you are a heart smith. But you still cut my debris again." "To live, is to hurt or be hurt." "Either ways someone bleeds." You swore to yourself the umpteenth time To be in the league of the former. But your tender brokenness Gives you away again You walk back that same way  You had your first cut And then many others and this.