Adeyemi Abayomi Olakunle – “Untitled”

Poetry

Long enough to see the height of my shortcomings

My emotions, my thoughts, my shame, my feelings

They are long enough to embark on like a journey

I was born in the midst of a happy morning

I grew up in tears and cries every night

The cot I was laid to sleep had bugs that suck blood out of my dreams

Twenty-one years later I could sniff out the bugs before I sleep

A childhood that I had in the neighborhood

Father returned home in a scornful mood

He was sailed in the sea of his tears and blood

The blades of his machines needed hands and they took his two

His breaths are filled with echoes of regrets and loss

The hands that gave have become game

Mother kept living

She wore garments of fate to face every day

Her finances left before she could say goodbye

She kept saying don’t mention God in my case again

She died everyday seeing my father rot by her side

The only son is left to die

Humbled by the hunger of the day

Broken by the groans of the night

I fetch waters from my eyes to quench my thirst every day

I lost my voice trying to reach the heavens

Every turn I take led to shame and bitterness

But I pen this from the altar of my soul

I hope it reaches the address I am mailing it to

Peace Avenue, End depression road

Give me life again, I want to live.