Poetry

Reuters photo

By

Kayode Afolabi

No evil company

I am a friend of the gods

Gleaming white is my garment

Friend, tell me, what are the odds

Of getting palm oil polkas

If I did fiddle around

With one whose limbs are hidden

In giant egusi pots

I am a friend of the gods

Hallowed is my blunt iron

Friend, tell me, would you be awed

If the sacred iron thumps

Shattering bodies and souls

After an arsenal-spent night

Iron sharpeneth iron

I am a friend of the gods

I am a staunch nazarite

Friend, tell me, how rash it be

A-paddling by a dark pub

Where bald men get drenched in gin

Or a-loving a damsel

Whose loose mouth has a worn lock

I am a friend of the gods

I sidestep the ungodly

Egusi – Nigerian soup prepared with melon seeds and red palm oil

Horse in privation

This morning I saw a horse mouth-down ex-

ploring a rubbish dump and I remem-

bered the privation of my own people

Prices have climbed up our now crumbly necks

We are critically choked we contem-

plate bartering our babies for bags of rice

Lives lost daily and no one knows who’s next

To ebb away in these ethnic mayhems

And faith-based killings by our own brothers

We thirst for life. We thirst for peace. We thirst.

When shall this horse be led to the stream? Hem!

This horse needs the drink of democracy

Kayode Afolabi

Kayode Afolabi is a medical doctor from Ibadan, Nigeria. Kayode enjoys listening to, reading and writing poetry – some of his poems have been published on Kalahari review. He’s currently serving with the 146 Battalion of the Nigerian Army.