Site icon Words Rhymes & Rhythm

BARRICADES OF BRICKS (a poem by Ókólí Stephen Nonso)

Read Time:1 Minute, 17 Second
what can you say to a man suffocating
behind barricades of bricks?

let's say you've been to a city,
where damp night air moves around empty streets,

& bodies, caged till their bones bleach white.
say you've seen an abandoned city, where viruses ruled—

still rules as if humans were dead.
but we didn't die—we disappeared & made our shadows allies.

yesterday, a man died & was laid with unspoken prayers.
they say families come together to show love & say goodbye to loved ones,

but silent prayers are the sincerest form of love.
across the alley, a house stands empty. no sound, not even by dogs.

all you hear is fear knocking on the doors.
it's July & the streets are filled with rain,

drops echo in long puddles. the days are silent. I talk, no response. maybe we're deaf.
in my emptiness, months turn into spring & leap away.

from my louvers, I spend cold nights. no words—a loner
staring at the twilight as despair creeps in.

for twilight is the safest place to hide a man
suffocating, till earth breathes again

Exit mobile version