Poetry

 

By

Ayoola Goodness Olanrewaju

 

 

 

empty lines (for Africa)

 

i

 

i am a hunter hunting for the hunts of haunted hearts…

the haunted hearts in caves of empty lines

 

the song i sing is without the merriments of drums only for brave hearts who can dance the tunes of emptiness brave dogs who bark and cry at eerie visions of nights to flee…

 

akanni…are you a brave dog?

do you bark and cry to take up this burden of these haunts written plainly in pure poetic paintings?

 

can you bear…bear burns from the tastes of burnt burns?

for these empty lines are fierce fires…they burn me too.

 

 

 

ii

 

 

motherland, you are pregnant again…deception!

what is pregnancy to a prostitute’s geniality of gigolos?

 

see, the skulls have summoned your promiscuity let your ears tingle to muted cries from your loud lies…

 

muted cries of souls you feed bread of vinegars muted cries of souls you deny sanctity of life muted cries of souls you hang on gallows of poverty muted cries of souls from your betrayals and selfishness…

 

and now you are pregnant with the lusty spills of democracy a protruded belly of filthy demon-crazes of empty lines…

 

 

 

iii

 

 

motherland, your maidens die daily…

they say sudden whiffs of lethal shells

serrate their thighs in burning advances…

 

motherland, your sons learn nothing under the tree they have got big eye-balls from hopeless stares into the sun…

 

motherland, the old man is here again

with his big belly saturated from the honey of  bitterness for your promised wealth and health…

 

 

yet, you calm our tensions in deceptive dictions…strange tongues and leave us notes…big notes of empty lines.

 

 

 

iv

 

motherland, your children have come with silent drums

silent drums of gratitude for brimmed brews of wails

 

they have come in crying robes and fluted sorrows

in weeping rhythms of trailing gongs of agonies

 

aduke! defeat weakness and sorrow loud for this last time

sing of these empty lines of promises and deafen these ears

 

help us thank motherland for the ragged-clothed promises

and for these excellent plaques of deaths

 

for the rare generosities of the bombs we eat for meals

for these empty lines of ceased constant terrors and bloodshed!

 

 

 

v

 

 

my eyes are red…ruddy deep to see hope

i have bent in neglect the nib of my pen for its signs…

 

i shall speak of no hope for these sights know only discomfort

and this place is no paradise…

 

is fire alone deemed

to approve the imagery of hell?

 

these empty lines are hell’s spew

from subtle whines of wolves, foxes and faithful apostates…

 

now, my mind has betrayed me… the mind of a poet

 

for if my words are stripped of hopes for haunted hearts

i am yet another prophet of empty lines…

 

 

 

 

 

 

a foolish lizard

 

 

i

 

like a plague of tsunami

against the wall of my heart

 

this song again brings you to me

 

soft rhythms wrestle with my thoughts

and floor me into the water of memories…

 

you were a friend of my heart

you were the fire within my soul

 

you were the one…

you were my love.

 

 

 

ii

 

my eyes shut into the files of moments

and i remember…

 

how we played at the shore of the small lake

and watched the happiness of the fish and water

 

how you whispered in the breeze of our sweet love

only for my ears

 

that i was your fish and you my water…forever

 

you giggled and i melted with love.

 

 

 

iii

 

like a fish out of water

i struggle with a burning within my marrow

 

i remember the night

we went for fireflies…

 

how you promised

me your light and the world of fireflies…

 

you made me jeer at darkness…i did many times

 

for you said you would light forever

like the ones we caught in the jar.

 

 

 

iv

 

i remember how you sang

and played the piano…

 

your song drowned me deep

for your voice melded sweetly with the keys…

 

you held my hands and kissed them

and i felt my breath stopped…

our breath harmonized

as we stood nose to nose

 

and you promised no touch until wedlock.

 

 

 

v

 

restless thoughts climax

the pyramid of my heart…pounding!

 

your deceit and your lies

were the truth i gulped

into the innocence of my heart

 

how can i forget how you lured my woman?

 

it was our end and i knew it

 

for your love is a broken wall and a snare

and i was just one of your foolish lizards…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ayoola Goodness Olanrewaju

Ayoola Goodness Olanrewaju hails from Osun State, Nigeria and lives in Abeokuta, Ogun State. He is a teacher of English language and has a B.A(ED) in English from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. His poems are published and reviewed on poetry sites and online magazines and blogs here. He loves to work with great minds.