Letter to Mummy.

Mummy,

Your heart is rest,
But I ain't weary yet.
Your side is a break,
One I ain't ready to take.

Thoughts of you are become frequent,
Like my mind is suddenly their vent,
They come again and again and again,
Like the Lagos rain.

I know they could be baits,
Like poisoned meals served in fine plates,
These could be floods meant to weaken my wall,
and make me answer the home coming call.

But how do I know the past is buried?
That the rivers of time have had it carried,
Far beyond memories reach,
That we ne'er recall what once brought the breach.

I think of you as love and rest,
While all you know is life's quest,
So when life takes a different turn,
All else becomes foregone.

So I resolve to tarry a lot more,
And get the fullness of what I long for,
That the end might justify the means,
And find a way to heal the hurt feelings.

The Wild One and The Novice.

The wild one and the novice,

Two extreme beauties,

Where one comes to fail,

The other comes for your bail.

One is a rolling stone,

Whose it is a crime to be alone,

Serened from the world of men,

Like when motherhood hides the hen.

Her strength is like the horse,

Stepping on toes and gathering no moss,

Yes she belongs to everybody and to nobody,

For how can she be tamed by somebody?

Yet she is this ripe desirable fruit,

As yellow as she can be, so cute,

Like the peacock with colourful feathers,

She has on her tail, a thousand admirers.

You are at risk if you love her,

For your heart would be in a mortar,

Pounded with the powerful pestle of jealousy,

She is the uncaged bird flying freely.

.

Time is fully on her side,

So she can afford to go on a cautionless ride,

Dabble and gamble her life away,

Like a lost sheep which went astray.

.

With her is the wealth of experience,

A master of the game in all essence,

So you stand to get the best when's your turn,

But she would be gone long before dawn.

.

But the other is always there with you,

Always asking what she should do,

Ready to dance to your rhythm,

Like it is forbidden to have her own dream.

.

With her is the beauty of submission,

With her, your heart has attention,

She wouldn't mind you take the ride,

Steer it anywhere, she won't be your guide.

The wild one and the novice,

Two extreme beauties,

Where the one comes to fail,

The other comes for your bail.

IRETI I

Ireti,

another day, another night,
many more moments gone by,
another second, another hour,
my eyes are yet to see your light.

Have you not been a source of delight?
A sight that causes the heart to rejoice,
Like a farmer welcomes a later rain,
That comes to soak the soil with might.

Yes, like the later rain you come,
With a cool calmness that causes craving,
A craving for more of your waters,
waters that leach away boredom.

Ireti, drop by drop a river is formed,
A little laughter, a little smile form fondness,
You worked your way and woke a sleeping giant,
Only to sing him a lullaby with your absence.

A little more of your smile Ireti,
A little more of your laughter,
Let me remain awake in this fondness,
Let me feel your water to the fullness

IRETI III

Ireti,

This silence is scary,
Like a masked spirit,
It infuses fear in me.

I've counted one through four,
Numbering the days as they go by,
And you're yet to come thru this door.

The nights are lonely,
The days ireti, are like widows,
And the morning mourns daily.

My eyes die of starvation,
My ears weary with numbness,
Each longs for your attention.

I'm just trying to bale the water,
While it remains at ankle level.
I fear, it might become a river.

Ireti, break the wall!
Jump bail!
Hear my heart's call.

EPISTLE (of breaking brotherhood)

Take a message to my mummy,
Tell her the throne is empty.
Tell her king uzziah is dead,
and there's tussle for the head.
.
Tell mummy the cord is broken,
Tell her the doors are wide open,
And what used to be a circle,
Is now an unjoined triangle.
.
Tell mummy the fish is off the hook,
Tell her brotherhood is a fluke,
That unity is a song of the insane,
For everyone is a king on his lane.
.
Tell mummy there's persecution of the disciples,
Tell her dispersion is now in multiples,
For even the members of a household,
Are centers that cannot hold.
.
Tell mummy to call on her deity,
The one who unifies three in one trinity,
Let him use his rod and staff to gather,
and keep the brotherhood together.
.
For we jointly chased the king away,
That everyman might have his own way,
But when there isn't able king in a kingdom,
The people possess a dangerous freedom.

IRETI II

Ireti,

You're a poem written in vernacular,
A song sang in my mother's tongue.
Everything about you is natural,
Like an unleavened bread.

You're the reason a king leaves its throne,
When you dance the jigida dance,
My heart vacates its throne in me,
And seek to merge with your own.

Ireti, can I think on you and not be elated,
Like when current passes through a wire,
My molecules move fast and are heated,
For your thoughts consume like fire.

You're a simile used in heaven,
A metaphor in the tongues of the angels,
Your voice is the onomatopoeia for beauty,
Even the sun smiles like you.

I'll wait at the village square,
That you come and carry me away.
To the lands where beauty is made,
For you're obviously from there.

You're untouched by the yeast of guile,
Something sincere about your smile,
And at the sound of your voice,
My heart starts to rejoice.

Unsaid Goodbye.

Señorita

Is this the part,
where your love leaves me stranded?
Like one waiting for a boat at the airport,
Is this where it begins to hurt?
Like a bullet in the head
And an arrow in the heart.

Is this where I seek and not find you?
Like one taken out of two.
Like a twin birthed alone,
For my very own,
Is become like needle in a haystack,
Lost as if it were, on an unmarked track.

Is this the part of hopeless waiting?,
Like wives waiting for returnees from war,
Not certain they would be coming,
Yet standing day by day by the door.

Is this the part you walk away,
With no goodbyes to say.
Is this the part you leave before dawn?
Sinking my soul in sorrowful scorn!

Blinded Sight.

We began with the end in mind,
We knew the end before we began.
Though we claimed to be blind,
We did see, we did discern.

When we laid tightly together,
Woven in the warmth of oneness.
We knew it was not for, forever
We knew it was not, endless.

When we saw the sun smile
We knew before long it'ld frown.
Her shining teeth was for a while
Soon in night's sea, It'd drown.

Today, the end finds fulfillment
The sun herself is forced to frown,
Forever is stripped of her garment,
Today, our forsight wins a crown.

Nostagia

Nkechi,

I was back at the place of our birth,
I was back at the place we first met,
Sat under the mighty mango tree,
Where you first confessed love to me.

I walked that bushy path,
Where we both solitarily sat,
That November night,
When our innocence took flight.

I arrived at the river side,
Saw the birds soar and glide,
It was there we constantly came to swim,
And hear the birds chant a hymn.

You remember the oye market square?
Yea, our favorite spot is still there,
The spot we sat to spy on the villagers,
While they mingle with the marketers.

Everywhere I turn, I see a page of our story,
I see the future that became history,
For before tomorrow could come,
We were caught and scattered by a storm.

A storm of different dreams,
Like fishes in separate streams,
So we rose and took different paths,
With a piece of each other's hearts.

But Nkechi, does home not call?
Will the termite not for the toad fall?
Hear this voice and come home,
Or will you forever roam?

The Phones no longer Ring!

My phones no longer ring,
For I'm no longer their king,
No more the reason why they sing,
Someone else now plays my wing.

None your line will ever call
Whenever your back is on the wall
Or when from fame you fall
None desires you at all.

When your skies no more rain,
And another usurps your reign,
No one would with you remain,
For from you they make no gain.

When life drags to the mud your name,
Your existence is stripped of fame,
When you're family to shame,
Everyone goes the way they came.

It's hard to find a true friend,
Who would stay with you to the end,
No matter the tempest and trend,
A helping hand they always lend.

Some would fold their arms,
And consciously keep calm,
When you kinda ask them for alms,
Because you're no more 'fam'
But a considerable harm.

Tender Tiger

I thought her tender,
Took a fall for her,
She became a tiger,
And scared me far.

No, she's really tender,
But what of the tiger?
Must be the master,
That influences her.

She's really tender 
So sought I her for a lover,
But she already has another,
Hence the tiger.

She said come close buh not closer,
Else she manifests the tiger,
And scare me far,
Just because of another.

So I go round and round and wander,
Not able to move away farther,
I've truly fallen for her,
Even with the new tiger.

Beyond me is this matter,
I'd leave it to love rather,
For it knew she had another,
And still made me fall for her.

The Lover's Heart

My heart, a weary wanderer
And yet a lively lover
Like kings in search of queens
It has an eye for beautiful things.

Severally battered and mended
By escapades that abruptly ended.
Yet it still staggers around
Like a drunk, bearing 'no love found'.

A beautiful thing, love is
With one your heart is at peace.
When your half, in the one you see
You reel with joy to ecstacy.

A dream at night
An obsession of the mind.
When you see a one of a kind
It is like love at first sight.

But I fear to fall again
To give my heart and my soul away
Like a snail from its safety shell
A real risk it is, a gain in pain.

I love the taste of honey
But I fear the sting of bee
It is such a painful one to me
I will love again, call me crazy.

Kiss

I desire to kiss your lips
To have a mouthful of you
A vulcano erruption kiss
That'd make our hearts glue.
.
A kiss does it all
Beckons on our souls to unite
As deeper in love we fall
Until everything seems right.
.
We'd hear our hearts beat fast
Like the danger drum in movies
Our emotions readying for a blast
And our love ripen like red roses.
.
A kiss blinds our eyes
Left to be led by our hearts
Our love is true, no lies
We're under oath, never to part.