Poetry

By

D.E. Benson

LIKE A FOOL IN APRIL

Today, I eat the stones that plague the throat of memory

I riddle the confusion that sit in the twinkle of questioning eyes

Today, I drink the sweat springs that flow between the hardened furrows of sorrow…

A dirge for the day you doubted I will die enough to see you to Mortal’s Rubicon?

So here, I slay a dead sigh
And lay it on the slab where self stay – buried
An offering of shame for that day
When lightening sparkled wrinkles
Like uncut diamonds, drawing
Me in; a fool in April

But tonight, I exhume the buried

SHALL THE SUN EVER AGAIN RISE OVER THIS RUBBLE?

(a reminisce)

Shall the sun ever again rise over this rubble?
Shall this beaten down wall of red mud ever again stand?
Shall the cold hearth in this obi ever again glow with embers?
Shall the moon ever again shine over this dew sodden mat?

Shall Papa’s voice ever again roar in laughter over palmwine with friends?
Shall mama’s voice ever again ring out my name with smoke watered eyes?
Shall the dusk ever again meet the little ones playing away in the dust?
Shall the giggles of the girls plaiting corn rows float in the cool evening air ever again?

Shall we ever again gather to dip pieces of roasted yams in same bowl of peppered palm oil?
Shall our backs ever again bend in unison over cassava and yam mounds?
Shall we ever again sit around the palm tree resting our tired backs, taking a water break and sharing a few laughs?
Shall we ever again journey to our homestead and find the sturdy mud walls still standing in place?

O! Shall the sun ever again rise over this rubble of shattered memories?!

D.E. Benson

D. E. Benson, a Nigerian, sees poetry as a way of giving his thoughts and inner self expression. He thinks that the world would be better off if a few more people would think outside the box each new day. ?He presently studies English and Literary Studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and shares his poems on facebook.