Our Horizon
There are reasons we are blind
—Blind to see beyond where the sky kisses the earth—
Or rather, myopic to see any further
Thus, each End becomes a new Beginning
As we proceed through our timed journey
And what was once unseen becomes seen
But this time, the last of Patience had dried up
Consumed by the searing sun of our Anxiety:
Our eyes longed to see beyond our blindness
So we took a glimpse into the clasped-tight palms of the future,
Through the peering eyes of a Gifted other
And what we saw…
And what we saw ruffled the feathers of our presence
Onioned our eyes till they became a basin of flooded grief
This future-knowledge-fruit consumed, churned our bellies
And we tried to reject it in spasmodic retches
By thrusting our forefingers deep down our throats
To no avail
There are reasons we are blind
—Blind to see beyond where the sky kisses the earth—
Or rather, myopic to see any further
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Hero
Bullet sounds rob the dreary night off its eerie silence
Snatching sleep off my treasured grasp
As fear is left unrestrained;
Endless chorus of ‘help’, soaked in fright,
Reverberates constantly in my drums;
In the speed of bad news I rush to my door,
Double bolting that wobbly plank shut.
I crouch back in the darkened silence—
Silence echoing the receding pounds of my chest—
To the safety of the cobwebbed intruded nook of my fortress;
Eyes transfixed to the ceiling, gazing at the heavens,
Absentmindedly counting the beads on my celestial rosary
Whispering a prayer that may be my last
For her whose screams, now mute.
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I
I am the bird
Adorned with powerful plumes of skyward flight
Who longs the clear view of Everest’s pate
Yet treads with talon-feet on earthly plain
I am the puppet
Whose head is stuffed with boundless brain
Yet I cling to their chain-like-strings,
Without thought, to govern my agile limbs
I am the tree
With firm roots untrenched in soil
Hence the tyrant wind sails me in every way
As its desultory direction dictates
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© Gbolahan Badmus
Image:Darah via Flickr