Muttering voices

  " Help meet" (Dedicated to Gift Ifechukwudeni) There are few humans like God That could see our tears before they come Draw close to us whenever They sense our loneliness from afar Snuggle silently to share our solitude. Only you can share this cross with its thorn Bleed and act as if you are not hurt In every pain you sought my gain You lost many too precious to find me Love was all that mattered to you, and still does, Few go this far in this scorching sun And never bothered to look back. Grace is found always on your lips You wear beauty like a regal rope Strength lies in your loins, And you choose to bear me with them You love relentless like death And we have chosen that it won't do us part. You say you worry I will leave  But how could i? When I just found the right bone  That made my life empty all this while. This is our honeymoon night I have come home to roost forever with you.

"Lockdown at '67" Like in the days of communal clashes, Our world became a deserted playground, A war of pride and power Is loosed on us, And every feet is on the run. Our children walk with tiny heads on  bloated stomachs, Body tattooed with hunger and suffering, Foot bare on dangerous pathways Some reckless piece of artwork unattractive to human stare  Smiling faces retract to a frown Brave men tremble like feverish children. We are lockdown in a war: Each day rises with horror  And falls with many dead. Life has turned its back on us And is walking away. 

" Spell Bound" The evening you walked away from him The night cast its spell on your rage Your tears dropped lavishly on your cheek He walked out on you again! He didn't say it was over. He walked on the feelings  You spread like trophies at his feet. And left with her, the new lady that's not you. Your mind were another's, a maniac's. It muttered strange things to your head. Your feet walked on and on Searching to find lost things. When you saw the pictures of you two Hanging perfectly on the wall You heart missed a beat thrice. You held it from breathing its last At least not now but soon. This time it won't be another's hand Ripping you apart  But your own bloody hands Sending the avenger swiftly at the heels of his victim. Vengeance stood in yours eyes  Like a drunken maniac  You're madly in love with him And this madness is the cord that ties this knot again  together in another life. 

"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.