POETRY
WHAT HAVE I DONE?
Sunday Triumph February 17, 1991
She deserted me
Abandoned me
Ran away from me
Like past Years
No one to share my joy
No one to listen to me
No one to console me
I long for a smile
I long for a joke
A squeeze, a hug
Some kind of inspiration from her
But to no avail
It’s terrifying-horrible
So consuming, sort of a jilt
I hide my covert away
From outside the world
Oh, I still remember her wit-
Quaint responds to my myriad of queries
Why couldn’t she listen to me?My innocence?
All alone I sit on my legs
With my arms upward and prayerful
Waiting for her forgiveness
To forgive me for what I’ve doneI cry my eyes out
I hate myself
I only have my room to talk to
And the wall to look at
All for the beating I did to her
While I was drunk.
INFATUATION
You’ve shunned me for long
Under a slight mistake
Soothe and remember our young
Hilarious with promise to be
And our beautiful song
alter bitter to tea
Unzipped almost is my lung
As it waits for your key
Born is time for ding-dong
Do let the world see
Unless you call for a bang
Livelong as I leave you for the sea.
ACADA GIRL APPEARANCE
Abused, misused first
Chastity, dignity lost
Parades in near nude
Fostering culture of moods
In coloured thinly lips
And a bony frame of hips
Swaggers in a shattered dream
Calling it a modern beam
All to explore quick market
But in a dubious racket
On and around the campus
For the sake of a negative purse
WEALTH IN VAIN
You can boast with opulence
Unable to purchase beauty with ornament
Health is so secure from your pharmacy
And sight needs no spectacle.
Use head thing for enormous vivacity.
Breathing in negative luxury
Exploiting not the happiness
And relief is rare leaf
That falls on the cool-minded
Indeed shelter for patient ones
That heed to judgment.
MY LIFE MY LIFE
Nigeria my life
Land for me to safeguard
On it I was and shall be
Royalty to the depth and width
Indeed to sacrifice all my being
Now and till when I shall die
LIFE IN SORROW
Young worlds are hungry
Universe cares not for their anger
Scientists make killing discovery
And health by 1990 is rare
Unpardonable leaders looting with the lorry
Lots of life in sorry
As death grips away in hurry
Royal fathers without people’s mandate
Enlarging our expression to look awry.
STREET GIRLS
Guaranteed by ages of her father
Ignoring the teaching of her mother
Roaming hither and thither
Lacerate her identity and fail to bother
Sit, for you shall be gathered together
DAY OF THE BIRTH
The fear grips me
Deep-deep down my marrow
The Culprit?
A cassock deliverer confronts me
No-no-no I am a fair player – a lover
Gaitily I move closer
She groans still in horror
But curse nobody, not even me
I hear push-push-push
I say push-push-push
Oh-oh I share in the sorrow
But only her, only the sacrificial lamb
I pray-pray till tears fail me
My manliness and visage betray me
The contraction must be over
My muscle twisted, the legs trembled
Then like a rainbow he bolted out with his
Ear-piercing shrieks from the butcher’s slab
My majestic African prince from the womb
Yes-yes I am the victor, macho man
Of responsible men’s club_
An automatic PTA member
I swagger in fantasy
The honeymoon must go on
For now and the future
Until the arrival of a full team
To honour my sacrificial lamb
AND MY TEARS ROLL
Sunday Triumph August 11, 1991
Some let their names run
Shiver into our spines
You let yours run
A spirit of love into our nerves.
While some leave in flying colours
Others suffer after graduation
When with your Bob Marley tones
You counsel us
Others thunder at us
Oh my mentor, my nurturer
Actor of B.U.K Holly Wood
It pains as you desert fresh students
Half backed in broadcasting.
Don’t go `Karka Tafi, we cry
Duwo malo` we need your ray
In the name of Chineke haven’t we tried’’
Or do you want us to become prey
Or have we offended you
Are we so nasty, stubborn
To be controlled
Or gentle and brilliant
Oh my eyes have swollen
My legs tremble
And my voice quivers
For the departure of this great man.
Good-bye from MACOSA and me
Adieu from students of mass-comm.
`Sauka Lafiya` from the ancient city of Kano
Odabo from Giant of Africa
Dedicated to Mr. Delim Jamar, a broadcast Lecturer
with the Mass Communication Department of Bayero University Kano as he returns to his country, United States of America ,
after a selfless service rendered the department.