FOR MY BEAUTY AND MY LOVE
The spread of your smile
Pushes tender affection
Into my heart, my love.
Your beauty is sublime
Not in the beholder’s eyes
Doth it rests
But on your hypnotic smile
And on your glittering eyes
And on your succulent skin, soft and mild
The colour of brown earth and the colour of beauty
It does not reflect the sun.
No.
It absorbs it – light and heat
Raw materials for an awesome product-
The quiet glow on your skin at twilight.
I am mesmerized.
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ENUGWU
I was somewhere
City of the rising sun
Land of scrubby ranges
Green grass of chameleon culture
Brown earth of stony soil
I was there.
My feet on chocolate stone pieces
My eyes on sober west-African faces
My breath on dusty air
I walked the streets.
Colonial cottages
Brown buildings
One, two, three stories
Of diverse hues of brown
Stood firm
On seams of rich coal
As I walked
Garriking my way
Drawn up to their full heights
Like an army of soldiers on parade
As I walked
Inspecting
Moving vehicles, people
On asphalt of brown
Streets, avenues, roads and highways
Woven intricately into
Colleges, hospitals, chapels and homes
Lying by lawns and shrubs
Set on vale and hills
Seen from afar
Paint the landscape
Veiled in mist
And lost in perspective
On the horizon to the west
I looked
Houses, hills, hidden habitats
Silhouetted
Against the tired orange sun
Sinking in the hills of Ngwo
As quietness settles the land
Like chilling dew on morning grass
The whole coal city
Exudes now
The harmony of hills and welkin
Wrapped up in cold tranquil
Of its eventide
Hastened by the Omnipotent One.
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THE MADNESS OF THIS RIVALRY
Caught
Amid the madness of this rivalry
Towards the prize we throng along
Like a pack of fleeing gazelles
On sighting a lurking beast.
Possessed.
Everyman scurries in the frenzy
Trampling his partner for gold
Caring less.
A loser must emerge
And such title is served in bitterness
As the other man purrs in satisfaction
Enamoured at his neighbour’s fall
That purchase for him orthodox victory
And watches as a casual experience
Raises a bitter foe
From the embrace of a beloved friend.
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© Dinachi Ikenna Dike
Image: Fe Ilya via Flickr (modified)