The Lion King | 57
Call Me Hope
By Efe Ogufere
Sniff scurries past, rattling my empty plate
He keenly studies the terrain grinding his teeth
Even crumbs have become scarce of late
He sniggers in derision and runs off, quite fast
for a starving rat
My eyelids are heavy, sunk and sore
It’s such a daunting task, opening them up
I guess I have to yeah, what a bore
Sweet death has ignored me once again
I stifle a yawn; it rocks my body head to feet
I shudder and feel my ribs press hard against
my skin
Mental note, I should never do that again
I scratch my head and stare at my arms, long
and thin
Barely a decade old and I already loathe this
world
Abandoned by a mother who was raped by a
stranger
My past as bleak as my present with a promise
of an even bleaker future
Sniff has a less depressing story I’d wager
My throat is dry, my lips are cracked
I would cry if I could but I seem to have ex-
hausted my tears
I stretch my arms and draw a deep breath; my
lungs feel like they are on fire
The pain is sharp...I let out a scream; I can’t
even decipher my voice
I shudder, Cold night it seems
If I could feel my toes, I would have covered
up with my tatters I lost that privilege a few
days ago
Now Sniff can help himself without me flinching
At least one of us can fill his stomach
I finally sit up, a few wasted calories later
My body aches but it’s a familiar pain I can
ignore it, for now
I have to leave this spot; I tell myself
It has been unyielding of late
But where do I go now?
Who is to say that alley is better than the next?
Even Sniff came back dejected yesterday
There is nothing out there
So I walk the streets, ageless and nameless
She forgot to name me before she went off
with the wind
I pick my plate unsure of when the next meal
would come
I should call me Hope, how fitting
Hope, what is hope with nothing to hold?
Every child should have a name
So I will clad myself in hope
Maybe fate would lend me its broken smile
Unity is strength... when
there is teamwork and
collaboration, wonderful
things can be achieved.
Mattie Stepanek
History teaches us that unity
is strength, and cautions us to
submerge and overcome our
differences in the quest for
common goals, to strive, with
all our combined strength,
for the path to true African
brotherhood and unity.
Haile Selassie
I dream of the realization
of the unity of Africa,
whereby its leaders com-
bine in their efforts to solve
the problems of this con-
tinent. I dream of our vast
deserts, of our forests, of all
our great wildernesses.
Nelson Mandela
We are only as strong as we are
united, as weak as we are divided.
J.K. Rowling
If the entire world sought to
make itself worthy of hap-
piness rather than make
itself happy, then the entire
world would be happy.
Criss Jami
Quotes
