54 | The Lion King
Poems
A Thin Line
By Ayomipo Ajayi
A thin line between life and death
Depths are so dark and confusing
A thin line between tears and smile
Your interpretation determines
A thin line between sorrow and joy
Only the burden in the heart can tell
A thin line between happiness and
sadness
What you give is what you get
A thin line between hope and despair
How great you let your fear; drives
you
A thin line between love and hatred
The same hands that brought you up
can still pull you down
A thin line between hatred and love
The same hands that pulled you
down can still bring you up
A thin line between justice and
injustice
Your thirst and the will of the Father
will tell.
You may toss a fair coin or throw a
fair die
No one can tell on which side it
would fall
You sure cannot boast of chicks
un-hatched,
It’s just life, walking a thin line.
Daughters of Peace
By Olawale Hamed
Oh fatherland!
Where have our warriors gone?
For I squint to see into the distant
horizon but see naught
And now I shiver as I feel the beginnings
of the torment of unfriendly neighbours
…Their taunting laughter and hysterical
dance.
Where have our warriors gone?
For now I sleep only with my eyes
and my mind remains awake asking
unanswered questions
And from the hilltops and the valley
troughs I feel them closing in…
With no resistance, no thorns to pierce
their evil feet and poison their impervi-
ous intent
Still I hear their blood curdling wails of
oppression and tyranny.
Where have our warriors gone?
For my water has become insufficient
and my shelter rocks and my clans-
men are discombobulated by the
approaching hostile cries
And my hens no longer lay their
burdens underneath the halcyon skies
before seeking the cover of darkness to
bring forth new life.
Where have our warriors gone?
And now hope evades me as I see the
bloated bellies of my gluttonous clan
chiefs
The telltale stains of guilt have never left
their claw-like fingers
Abruptly comprehension befalls me
where forth our warriors have gone…
The brave ones have been swallowed
up in the aftermath of greed and
avarice amidst unwholesome and
insatiable ambition
And as the pounding feet of our
tormentors draw ever so near, terror
clutches my heart for the survival of our
daughters of peace…
For without the warriors there would be
no daughters
And now we can only hope that
beyond the distant horizons from
whence our tormentors come, our
brothers across the pond will come forth
in the spirit of recompense and join in
our struggle to save our daughters
And once again, we shall hold our
heads high in dignity as one.
REMINISCENCE
By Adejuwon Adegboyega
Sentiments well up as borne
By the soul’s ponder
By the mind’s imprint
Of people, of events
Upon history’s epoch
With yearnings, longings
As time speedily recoils
And memoirs summoned
‘Teary’ eyes often get
When nostalgia sets sail
On emotions’ seas
With the gust of winds
That experiences buoy
Etched deep at heart
So sacred, dare not defile
With shoddy thoughts
Or fleeting moods
Till happenstance ripens
Unto incidences’ birth
So dear, oft un-penned
So private, earthed beneath ‘now’
Till alloyed with our lives
O, reminiscence
So forever young
Until fully eroded
As amnesia sprouts
Or in death’s abruptness
Politics & Religion
By Nonso Nduanya
They say it’s their religion
I say it’s their superstition
An excuse to ravage and plunder
A ruse for the savage yonder
They peddle it as their belief
To bestow heavenly bliss and relief
I say it’s a disguised franchise
A remunerative merchandise
They spiel contrived preachments
Twisted to nurture their investments
I say it’s hypnotising dogma
Repressing pragmatism with stigma
They feign righteous indignation
Quick to pronounce condemnation
I say it’s plain hypocrisy
The truth is a fallacy
