The Mind
By Moshood Azeez
There is a land where the imagination runs wild
And men first learnt the ability to multi-task
Here, decisions are vetoed every minute, and
Elections are held by the hour
There is a land where alms are given gainly
And where men pray to God five times daily
Out of this land flows the issues of life
With joy and happiness to permeate the world
There is a land where men are murdered nightly
To the north side is a valley full of dry bones
It is a land desperately wicked to its core
Only God can direct it like rivers of water
The land where imaginations run wild
Is the land where alms are given daily
And men are murdered nightly
This land of abstract is a place called “The Mind”
Vain Beauty
By Sam Samba
My praise pulchritude where are you?
I fear and ooze tears
For no one cares for my shares.
Far away, many come unaccustomed glean and preen
Far away, they go in sweet smiles,
Deep in my psyche I cry.
They are lured by my beauty lie
Call for alliance but not allegiance.
They call me sweet mother,
On my mantle gem bed the only where they find joy,
Yet, disdained me in their hearts.
The shoulder on which they find haven, disrelish its head.
My own shares ecce divinity
My denizens doctor with no care.
My ordain leading lights with no pacific homilies,
Pastors of arsonists and assassins with abortive aptitudes.
Their evolved domiciles for my latent lads, lasses and pos-
terities are hovels and sties.
In deep tears my pain swims.
My praise appellation lion, ecdysis to cub,
Anthem of Africa to apathy.
East like West and North twin South,
All with usurp mind, no centre of unity.
Omnipotent, thou crucify my crucifiers,
They are charlatans, imps and ruthless foes of my flows.
Cronies, ora pro nobis.
Musings of Heart….
By Adegboyega Adejuwon
Oh! Human praises, so ephemeral are
‘Hosanna’ today ‘Crucify Him’ tomorrow
Worldly acclaims, as fleeting as shadows
How oft the mind’s in banter
And memory in hysterics, too soon away goes
That later at jugulars, one holds the other
As though estranged they always had been
Nay; sleep not, when praises buoy
On oars never rest, when cheers resound
For as the ovation ascends, is the potential of fall
So, ‘beware, my son’, Dad often times said
Once looked I into patriotism’s eyes
Like an aperture lit up
To see passion white hot
So emotive ….. so corporal:
With pulsating pectoral thuds
And resonating rhythmic breaths
Once a glimpse at this affection caught -
Seemed so deep, miles endless
For there, resided devotion
Dauntless sacrifice sculpted
Cheers to patriots who heroically served!
For country, for life, for freedom, did fight
Some with hands to rifles clutched
Others, their teeth grit in full persuasion
Steadied un-swayed by ideologies so ill
And when causes their lives of them demanded
These they yielded, not refraining a sec
For faith, for honour, for humanity, for life
For posterity, for verity, for liberty, for polity
Alas! Unceremoniously earthed, to wither away
But within our hearts, immortal they live.
‘In the eyes of the beholder’ by Nonso Nduanya, 2015, (Oil Pastel)
56 •
The Lion King
• July - September 2015
Arts
| Poetry & African Proverbs
