Poetry

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By

Emmiasky Ojex

Do You?

(For The Boy Child)

Do you see us when we cry?

When we try to hide our faces in the sand?

have you ever thought it through,

That these people might be hurt too

Do we seem like we do not have pain receptors in us?

Nay, we are born out of bone and blood

We also feel the same pain you do

Only that the world sees us as weak and you’re strong when we show it

Do we seem like goats

We do not need to be told

“You are a man, be one”

Will you tell these words to my boy when I am gone?

Of course, I am a boy!

Is that a curse?

Can I not feel hurt as well?

Or will you only notice my tears when I drown in the well

Please look into my eyes and tell me

It’s okay to be a hurt boy.

Why Should I?

Why should I hold it in?

Is my heart an inn?

Why should I not say when I have been hurt?

Will you only learn the evil your shunning made me do when I become a member of the dreaded cults?

Why can I not cry too?

Why do my pains have to be kept mute?

Will you only see the pain in my perforated heart after I go home

Beyond this phase, transcendence into the metaphysical zone?

I am human,

Born of skin and bone

Not made of rocks and stones

I have a right to be sad.

So why will you tell me to hide my face,

Beneath the dwellings of the bed sheet

And under the railing of my own skin

Why, I still wonder why?

If you can tell me your pain

Maybe I can ease you by telling you the shame

Coming out to tell the world

What boys suffer brings to my name.

Emmiasky Ojex

Emmiasky Ojex is a writer, poet and humanitarian who hails from Nigeria.

Most of his works span around humanitarian acts and “DO YOU” (FOR THE BOY-CHILD) is a poem talking about the need of adults to not neglect the boys in the world as well because they too have pains they pass through.