Changed Man
Listen to the stories of the bad
Listen to all their wild laconic acts
Corruptions, menaces, lies, and crimes.
Listen only not to those with flowering-ending
Listen hard to the heart beats of struggling
Cries, screams, blood drops and palms waving
Listen hard to all that changes good or bad
Listen to the still stream stories they tell
Cups of bitter zeros they bitterly drank
Listen o listen to the stories of a changed man.
By Onyeche Vincent Onyeka
Flowers Bloom and Fade Away
Yesterday I read a heave sigh
From two beautiful candy friends
One’s voice deep and romantic
The other soft like elastic
With a pair of golden lips
As sweat as red cherries;
Yesterday they had laughter’s
Inviting like temptation
Reminding the aged of the infantile
Remarks that could tears fill the tile;
‘Rome was built not in a day; let’s give it a try’,
They sigh.
Next day I got a headache
From two bitterly barking dogs
Deep, harsh, light and loud
‘Dad … Mum!!!
It will never work; let’s call it off’
They mull.
Today I read yet another sigh
Like tomorrow, yesterday, birthdays,
Christmas and New Year’s Eve
Two beautiful candy friends
Holding candles by the cradle
Hope it’s not another part of a pack
For flowers to bloom and fade away
By Onyeche Vincent Onyeka
Nigeria at 50 (A Golden Age)
Nigeria at 50 (A Golden Age)
Like an Ocean wave, it waves
Calling all yea who swayed
To the river-banks and overstayed
Away from the then Slave-Coast
Before now and during the days
Days when lanugo wrapped a newborn
Named not by an inbreed culture
But: River Niger flowing nonstop to the future.
A moment of silence…
To all yea who passed on for or by her sword…
Rejoice and bless us to good gospels
Nothing good and best changed in liberty-bell
The Eagle still strong as the Horses never fall
Lokoja still a confluence, along the dell
The boutique of flowers still ours in golden ages
O yes, the flag is ever Green and White.
To all yea who see these days,
Days when history’s made easily from misery
Hark back to years ago, by ego civilians and soldiers
Breathe last breath for the liberty-bell.
50 years tougher, stronger and of better wage
Arise o compatriot…
An atom now weighs more a whale
All on a golden age.
By Onyeche V.E. Onyeka
© 2010 https://vinzpoetry.wordpress.com
Tags:
All great Nigeria presidents and Heroes, Colonization, Golden age, Independence Day, Late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Late President Yar’Adua, Liberty bell, Nigeria coat of arm, Nigeria’s golden jubilee, Nigerians overseas and dwellers, October first (1st October), President Goodluck Jonathan, and Slave coast.
Golden jubilee; welcome to Nigeria
Golden jubilee; welcome to Nigeria
Looking down the page
So many had changed
“Was this my gage?”
She cries with such a rage.
To the mess of all age
Customs and Traditions is forgotten
And changed
She felt like breaking out the cage.
Ah… young ones: It was fifty years ago
Before prisoners were freed
And true owners became happy dwellers
So frustrating, so upsetting
“You’ll never make it” most predicted.
“Kill the messenger”
Sagely, she’d dog-fought an awful message.
Her dispossession now in perfect position
It was fifty years ago
After the whites came
The whites ruled
She became sage
Wish the old had gotten the message
It was fifty years ago
After she flashed a look
From the corner of her eyes
The green flag waved freely,
At home now, many old died…
Ay… young ones, if she hadn’t be slaved to sage
She wouldn’t be saying: “Welcome to Nigeria.”
By Onyeche Vincent Onyeka
© 2010 https://vinzpoetry.wordpress.com
