On a leisurely summer morning sail
Which chanced against a fast car’s windscreen;
Yes, like egg laden tray,
Falling to the tarmac off a hawker’s head;
And, like a caterpillar, worming its way,
Along the path of a strolling elephants,
Smashed into a mess, wham!
Now like hopes of a housewife
At the veranda, waiting for a husband,
Already robbed and killed
On his way from the family treasury;
And, dashed like the hopes of hungry school ready children,
Sitting around the table, watery mouth agape,
Staring as desperate dutiful cook
Stumbles and scatters breakfast on a dust laden floor…
What the hopes of new converts
Robbed of travel documents at departure airport
And stranded at pilgrims camp?
Behold the hopes of undaunted
Researchers, marooned on a desert plateau,
And of compass less Trans Saharan merchants
Ambushed, stabbed and beheaded
On the sandy road?
Now I see restless ghosts around students’ hostels,
Each graduation day they hover near lecture halls
Like nesting weaver birds denied a chance
To perch on village palm trees by catapult wielding Urchins.
Dashed and smashed are their hopes,
Cut off forever are their dreams,
And their memories hold perpetual gloom,
For their families and friends.
Written by: Erayan Daniel Ukwe
Edited by: Kukogho Iruesiri Samson
