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13.8k · Mar 2020
GENERATION FOR EQUALITY
GENERATION EQUALITY

It is equality when you work with her.
It is equality when she leads the team.
It is equality to see her, think her and call her the boss.
It is equality when she promotes her accomplishments.

It is equality to pay her the same as him for the same job.
It is for sure equality when you give her credit for that brilliant idea.
It is totally equality to admit she is more competent so she gets the job.
It is equality when she has an opinion and is confident to make it known.

It is equality when deciding for herself is norm.
It is equality when bias and stereotypes no longer define her.
It is equality when her achievements are no longer firsts.
It is equality when she is well represented in critical areas of concern.

It is definitely equality to treat her with respect and dignity.
It is absolutely equality to fight alongside her for peace and justice.
It is real equality to be her allie, support her future openly.
It is surely equality for her to reclaim and take up spaces.

Not just a woman, not just a girl, not just because she is your mother or wife,
Not just as your sister or your aunty, not just because she is your daughter,
But as the very evident, clear as day Human that she is in this generation and
Generations more to come.

An integral part of a collective whole, we all need to better uphold.  
Each one responsible, Each one acting consciously, Each one shaping up,
A generation for equality.

Belema .S. Ekine
belemascribbles
It is International Women's Day 2020. Gender equality, gender parity is the way forward for our generation and the world. Let's be secure enough in ourselves to play our part in encouraging and promoting equality for women and for all.  We are stronger, better and more enabled together
7.3k · Dec 2018
SOLDIERING ON
I am not just a person in
a uniform, I am a Soldier.
Every time I arise,  I obey;
Each time she calls, I step up
To defend her freedom,
To restore her home of peace
I arise,  I obey, I soldier on.

Into the forest of her terrors
I charge, not without fear for that
which is mine but with love and strength
and faith, I March. Defending the labour
of heroes past, I march; fighting
for dreams of her children bright-
the  future she deserves.

I arise, I obey, I soldier on.
In the army I serve Nigeria,  my
Country with heart, might and spine.
Though a thousand times I have fallen,
bits and pieces of me, lost to her darkness,
still I obey, knowing it may be my last. I arise,
leaving my family and friends behind.

I obey your call of duty. My service and loyalty
I pack on with my combat gear, that you may live
to see yet another day, to feel yet another ray of
light on your face. I am not just a person in a uniform.
I am your Soldier,  the Nigerian Soldier,
Ambushed and slaughtered in 40s, 70s and 100
for lack of resources.

Bless me O Nigeria as I arise and obey
Send me to your enemies with arsenals
and might to match the fire in my eyes.
As opposed to the massacres of me, let
the headlines read of our gallant victory
For my victory is yours over those who
threaten our unity.

I am not just a person in a uniform.
I am your Soldier
Do not let my bravery dissipate to stupidity
For I rise,  I obey,  I soldier on
still.

©Belema .S.  Ekine
©belemascribbles
dedicated to all the brave Nigerian soldiers fighting the war against insurgency and terrorism. To those who we have lost and those still fighting for a better Nigeria.
5.1k · Oct 2017
LEARNED HELPLESSNESS
Long before she was born
The balance, the societal scale,
The ground upon which her wobbly feet
Will learn to stand upright and walk steady
Had been socially disintegrated.

Arms with which her clay mind
Is to be molded and framed
Had been morally fractured.

The ‘responsible majority'
Saddled  with the making of serious decisions
Had decided against her-

The minor, with fewer rights
And a body like hers-
Double jeopardy, I will say.

The verdict always the same,
Unanimous more often than not
Guilty!! Is the girl child;
If she grows too fast
Or he touches her inappropriately.

So she learns from her early days
The skill of helplessness
All through the pain and the shame

For it is always her fault
Always has been
Long before she arrived

©Belema .S. Ekine
International day for the Girl-Child
4.6k · Apr 2018
DEAD LIONS DON’T ROAR
When the ****-shot kills not, the dead lions don’t roar.
They become the ghost in the dark, silent yet present.
Like power, real power, stealth in tall green grasses,
they watch
the victory dances and gleeful prances of deluded preys.
Beware!! Be not carried away.
Look into the eyes of the golden flames,
See their manes –Alive!!
In the fog of night’s peaceful fade.

©Belema .S. Ekine
©belemascribbles
4.3k · Apr 2018
YELLOW SWEATER
The power of the mind
I have heard those words
Thought them to be nothing more
Than just a play on words
But not today, oh, not today
It was the yellow sweater I saw first
I know right!! YELLOW sweater
Let's just let that go
Then the face, your face
The one I have been trying so hard not to forget
Those eyes I could not stare into for more than a few seconds
For they always seem  to be staring back at my soul
Saying I know what you are thinking, I can see your heart beating
I could not contain myself, like an open book I let out a smile,
My ***-IT-IS-REALLY-YOU! smile
Hidden behind the HAPPY-NEW-YEAR, LONG-TIME-NO-SEE greetings
Oh I believe!!!! I am a believer!!! i believe in its power
The power of the mind, My mind,
The one you have been breezing in and out
Of like a ghost, the friendly one though
Whispering your name in calligraphic puffs of air
Once or twice for the past couple of weeks
Now you are here, standing in front of me
The 3rd time today, asking if you had changed in anyway
And I saying just saying "No"
When all I was screaming inside to say was
Yes!!!!
Your fine self is finer than the last time I laid eyes on you.

©Belema .S. Ekine
©belemascribbles
There is this guy I have a crush on
2.7k · Aug 2018
OXYMORON
That night he called it quit
She cried on her pillow
Curled up like a ball on
a freshman bunk bed.
The moon, its light her only pity party

One night he called to ask
If there was ever a chance
Yes or No? He asked
Just like that.  She replied
Flat out. No!!

Other days he called
Just to say hi! She went
From bad mood to feeling good
Laughing and  smiling but he
had made her cry that night,
years ago.

Today, here he is,
Looking into those eyes,
Hers,  searching.....
But he found her,  the same girl
She had waited! For him
all along.

In between, got her heart
Broken into a million pieces.
Broke her fair share too. Still
somewhere deep down she waited
to hold his.

It will be simpler, if
She was different,
For he is a different guy
now. Not the kind of guy for
her girl.

©Belema .S.  Ekine
©belemascribbles
When time has passed and one person changes while the other doesn't.
2.5k · Apr 2018
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
He lay on the floor
Head smashed in with the
Centerpiece that was their
Wedding gift

If only we had cared
Enough to stop him
He was her husband
And he had gone mad on her again

She stood by his body
Teary eyes transfixed on his
Blood as it made its way
To her shaky feet

If only we had not said
He was her husband
She was his wife
For it was theirs to resolve

His fist no longer balled up
Her screams abruptly seize
His belt around her neck no more
Her consciousness crawls back in

If only we had made
It our business, seeing not
Violence as discipline, saving her
Would have saved them both

©Belema .S. Ekine
©belemascribbles
2.1k · Apr 2018
SHOUT IT
An asset she is for this you see
In those big brown eyes
Her dreams reveal
Her destiny unique
This I know you feel so
To you I plead
Be her voice until she is
Shout it out that which she is
So she knows she can be
As colorful as she dreams.

With all our fibre and being
Let's
Shout it out
An Asset she is!!!
So she is strong to
SPEAK, BELIEVE, TO BE
That which she dreams and thinks

©Belema .S. Ekine
©belemascribbles
1.4k · Mar 2017
GREENLIGHT
The first 'Like' notification
Literally threw me over the moon
Now I can say I know what 'THE COW' felt
The first 'Humble' comment
Hit me right through my chest
I swear I died and went to heaven
Now I can say HE knows how grateful I am
The first 'Collection' addition
Welcomed me to a new country
Now I can say I know what it's like
To hold multiple citizenship
Since I landed on this planet of words
Its breeze hitting me  'hi' and 'hello'  
I can say I hear my name for the first time
And it feels like Poetry

                              © Belema .S. Ekine
This is a lil something to show my appreciation for the kind and warm reception from my HP peeps.
1.3k · Aug 2018
SOULMATES
Ten light years and distance passed
First love comes to Capital
Burning amber like a gentleman
in theatre's night.

Side by side in the darkest aisle
Flames of old warmly spark
Whispering words with beating hearts,
Interlocking fingers and soft lips' stamp.

©Belema .S.  Ekine
©belemascribbles
Exes meet many years later
1.1k · Mar 2017
KALEIDOSCOPE
We have been together long enough
WW3 broke out a week ago
We have been together long enough
You'd think we invented “kissing on the beach”
We have been together long enough
We are co-authors in the bestseller “Commitment and Quarrels”
We have been together long enough
Our memories could be your bedtime stories
We have been together long enough
Enough no longer means sufficient
We have been together long enough
We are back to being a day old
We have been together long enough
It is a kaleidoscopic cycle


                  ©Belema.S.Ekine
1.1k · Apr 2018
ALTERNATE
I am happy for you.
It beats
the alternative.
The alternative gets
me Nothing,
changes Nothing
So yes
I am happy for you
But most importantly,
I am happy for me
You want to know why?
Happy Me,
gets to kick ***,
beat the crap
out of her,
The alternate me

©Belema .S. Ekine
©belemascribbles
Everyone has got a choice,  I choose to be happy because the alternative *****
1.0k · Jan 2019
BLESSED LOTTERY
Finding love is easy.
Finding the right kind is not.
Few get to feel it.
Quite a few get to keep it.
Love is a free gift given.
Getting it right is like winning.
A lottery.
It is not for everyone.
Just the lucky ones.
Better said.
Hash tag the blessed.
For it truly a blessing.
If you ever find it right,
Be wise and persistent.
Keep it winning right.


©Belema .S.  Ekine
©belemascribbles
1.0k · May 2017
FELLED
Scream!!!!!!
I should scream
Can feel it
Swelling up in my throat
Like a flood
Waiting to clear
All in its path
Surrounded by people
I am forlorn and alone
In a well so hollow
I am lost
Zapped from the bubble
I am now
As a tree
Cut and felled at its stem
Stuck in time
Taking up space
In a field of photosynthesis
I am stump


©Belema.S.Ekine
952 · Mar 2017
CALL TO ACTION
TIME HAS COME
TO PUT ON OUR SKIN OF COURAGE
TO BE THE FIRSTS
UNTIL THERE ARE NO MORE FIRSTS
NO MORE LEFT BEHINDS
UNTIL OUR QUANTITY PARS QUALITY

THE RACE IS ON
LET’S OPEN OUR EYES
OUR MINDS UNBIASED
TO THE MANY OPPORTUNITIES
THOSE VAST POSITIVITIES

YES WE CAN
BE BOLD
SO LET’S USE OUR VOICES

YES WE CAN
BE INSPIRED AND INSPIRE
TO BE BIGGER
TO DREAM FRESHER

YES WE CAN
BE FEARLESS
SO OUR DAUGHTERS CAN BE LIMITLESS

YES WE CAN

ON OUR MARKS

GET SET

LET’S GO

BE BOLD FOR CHANGE

                                © Belema .S. Ekine
It Is International Women's Day today. Lets us all come together to show support for our women and girls. Men, boys, women, girls , we all need to work together to ensure that the future is better.
917 · Feb 2017
29/12/2016
It is a Thursday
And for the first time she knows right where her heart is,
The exact spot it is in her chest as she feels each heavy thump it makes
Her brother collapses right in front of her
One minute he is talking, the next he is not  
Precipitously
Her heart literally starts pushing its way outta her chest as she makes her way to him
He had just asked her about an episode of the Graham Norton show
No way is she prepared for the next thing she sees,
He descends to the ground in a "tripping over a stone" fashion,
Hitting his big head on the armrest cushioning his way down to the cold tiled floor
He is getting up........*** he is not!!!
He is still, as still as a log and not the sleeping beauty kind
Her Mum,
By her side in split seconds calling his name, pulling him up in a sitting position,
At the same time screamingly beckoning her dad
Her Dad,
with every bit of calmness he could conjure
Joins his wife to pull him up from the ground,
Asking that water be poured on him
She,
Charging from the bathroom like a firefighter with a bucket,
Baths him with water,
He is coming to!!  
Answering the calls of his name as his mum leaves it on REPEAT mode,
Seconds had passed and he had missed it,
Seconds which would have gone by unnoticed like a fly on a wall,
Now will be a memory they will never forget.

©Belema S. Ekine
850 · Apr 2017
2 SIDES OF THE COIN
2 drops of tear

Travel down her side eye

Flowing consecutively on a loop

Yet falling into oblivion

Breaking free from her once ethereal sockets

As the icy sideline waves ravage her mind

Consuming every evidence of hope she once embodied

Trapped she is beneath layers of ice

Ice so thick to break through

Yet clear enough so you know she is there.



2 drops of tear

(O once upon a time they were)

Fall not from his side eye

Deposit instead in the reservoir of him

Quietly wearing away the gypsum norms on which he stands

Like the Mosul Dam o he knows

Still his paintbrush daily he holds

Laminating his façade in fifty shades of hegemony blue.


©Belema.S.Ekine
760 · Apr 2018
CAROUSEL
We started with love.
Well, I did.

I started with love when I laid eyes on her behind, Le derrière of life.
I was pulled into a wormhole, only her slap could wake me up from.

We slipped into hate.
Well, she did.

Till with my charm I pulled her right back
For a Yoruba demon never gives up.
A carousel going back and forth, we ride from love to hate to love again.
I hate to see her go but I love to watch her leave,every single time.

Today, today is no exception.
She will be back.

©Belema.S.Ekine
(belemascribbles)
726 · Mar 2017
THE EGGSHELL ADDICT
Some days I dream of us
Re-enacting scenes from our favorite romantic movie
Replaying the songs I just didn’t get but u loved so much
Other days I try so hard to forget
Heck! Sometimes I think I even do
And all is well with the world
Then like thunder after every lightning
A flashback after every trigger
It all comes undone
And there we are!
Coming back
In all our majestic glory
Crippling me to my very core
Some days , like a recovering addict
Am 90days sober and walking on eggshells
Other days,I fall off the wagon
Remembering more than it took to forget
To forget u, to forget us

©Belema.S.Ekine
688 · Mar 2017
SOLID ROCK
YOU are the reason

               A higher plane I have found

                                    On which I shall stand.
              
                
                          ©Belema.S.Ekine
658 · Mar 2017
DRUGGED EGO
Bruised

    So you retaliate

         With those bruised hands

                 You choke and strangle

                       Cos like Molly, it is your drug

                               And you just gotta get your fix.


                           © BELEMA .S. EKINE
Ever had someone hurt you so bad u wldnt even think of doing such to them nd try to justify their actions by blaming it on something u did or said? ......... Don't buy it
555 · Jul 2017
PANIC ATTACK
I miss you
It should hurt
Because you are miles away
But you have always been away so
Missing you is the only norm
I have ever known.
It is my go-to fuzzy cashmere
When rainy days call.

Now with kilometres converted
Into inches,
You are Here with Me
Literally Present

Out of the blue
Hot and cold flashes
Strike me
Like a surge
So my lungs fall short of air,
My feet tingles like a bell
As I ‘m subjected to arrhythmic
Thumps in my chest

And all I need is not the
Brown paper bag
In your hand but
MY FUZZY CASHMERE!!!!

©Belema.S.Ekine
519 · Jul 2017
ENGRAVED
Many a times I studied the lights
On the right nights
I held my head high and shut my eyes tight
Making wishes upon each star
Shooting by in the sky
So
Somewhere in the stars
Is a story about us
A poem, a prose, a drama
Our body of works
For as long as the stars light up the sky
Our words, our love, our bond
Will shine bright
For engraved in the stars is
The art that is
You and I

©Belema .S. Ekine
prompt of the day- written in the stars
507 · Jul 2017
EARPLUGS
I can hear them
Voices being raised
As each shell detonates
And I know I'll be
Walking in a field of landmines
For the next few days
As is always the case
Since I was eight
Each time my earplugs I grab
Drowning the sounds of the blasts
Shielding my memory form its shards
But only a while this could last
For a knife I brought to a gunfight
I was dragged
And the blasts over and over
Explode in my head
As my mind a war zone it became.

©Belema .S. Ekine
being doing a lot of wordchallenges lately. this poem is a 3 in 1 piece.
1 poem 3prompts- 1. shell 2. grenade 3. earplugs
503 · May 2017
HOW CAN YOU SLEEP??? HERS
RING!!! RING!!!!
The sound before the hello
Ring ring ring
The expectation of the clueless heart
Anticipating the peace that is the Familiar
That Voice permanently engraved in the soul
The symbol of protection and safety
There it comes!!!!
BOOM!!!
The explosion of the heart
BOOM!!! BOOM!!!!!
The Aftermath of the impromptu silence
Just as the strange clear voice escapes the pink vase
Debuting its smashing hit single
It hits the drum when no one is listening for it
Calling out like a violent storm
Threatening to break up the boat on the once calm sea
Like a stowaway hiding in the basement
Only to be revealed by a run of luck.
                
©Belema.S.Ekine
492 · Apr 2017
UNHOLY MATRIMONY
Ask what she wants, Ask what he needs
He'll write you an epistle, She'll sing you a psalm
Present all she needs, Avail all he requires
He buries them in the earth, She hides them in her purse
To her brother, She is the new era
To his sister, He is the long awaited change
First name, Pseudo
Last name, Grabby
Joined in unholy matrimony
They bring forth
EMPTY PROMISES and HYPOCRISY
Regurgitating from their long throats
Indigestible pellets, packaged as permanent solutions
Whilst
Skillfully silencing the many angels
Seated on their right shoulder
Ask him what he has done, Ask her what she is doing
And like ostriches,
Heads buried in the sand, Butts hanging out
They just don't care


©Belema.S.Ekine
449 · Dec 2018
SCREAM!!!!
I saw her last night.
She was not alone.  She was with me.
And she was me.
Her eyes.  Their eyes.  My eyes
Glared back at me.
They were mine. They looked like mine
But they were not,
Not the way they stared.  Each stare
Sharper than the one before.
She moves closer. I feel the urge to scream
To call for help
But instead I freeze.  To think
What does it mean
If I scare me. Enough to scream
what does it mean
If I call out for help. To be saved from me
What does it mean?
Because I did...
I screamed

©Belema .S.  Ekine
©belemascribbles
Any dream interpreter in the house??  Y'all I had a dream
403 · Jul 2017
THE LETTER
Love he penned down
In lines crafted with
Passionate chimes
Emotions he scribbled
In stanzas so smooth
Metaphor no longer
Could refrain locking
Hands with Simile
For within each rhyme
Were hidden rhythms
Of his fervent heart
Only she could decipher

©Belema .S. Ekine
378 · Jun 2017
THE DARE
Tandi, The Dare!!!
They all called her
For her life she lived
On the edge
With no fury, no weary

A façade she wore
A distraction it was

Tandi The Dare
Had been running all along from
That which she feared the most
From the truth,
Her Truth!!!.....

The End!


©Belema.S.Ekine
1 of the poems I have written this month for a 30 day poem challenge
372 · May 2017
HOW CAN YOU SLEEP??? HIS
Ring Ring!! goes the phone
He hears her,  he sees her
Calling out in tunes programmed just for her
Can’t wait to hear the smile in her words
No idea what they will talk about today
Maybe he’ll tell her how boring class was
She’ll tell him how she had writer’s block all day
Either way letting each other know the day just begun
The very minute he pressed the green button
Got 50-maybe scenarios off the top of his head
None was anything like what the next 5seconds delivered
A 3rd voice calls, the link severed
Well guess it’s true what they say
2 is company,  3 a crowd
Two questions accompanied by
Shadows of insinuations and accusation
Plunge right through his chest
Resting heavy on the heart
Breaking ground for a long long night


          
©Belema.S.Ekine
369 · Jul 2017
TO BE AN OLD MAID
She set the game in motion
Crafted all the cards
To his bended knees
She dealt the wrong hand
Bluffing the years away
Like a hapless poker player
As was the rule of the game
She had no company
She did no pairs
Left unmatched, she became
The old maid in the game.

©Belema .S. Ekine
Wrote this for a poem challenge.  The prompt for the day was #tobeanoldmaid
363 · Dec 2017
FINDING ME
1
I knew the day would come
You would come find me
As it had been said in HIS Word
So pictures I dreamt of what
You should look like
What I like and want to see
In the one who shall come
To find the good thing that I am

2
I saw you in every guy, tall and slim
Skin a shade or two lighter than mine
Oh and that one guy who was a shade
Darker, loving and good, intelligent too
I saw you in their voices, sometimes their words,
And actions until I did not anymore
It was love, my kind of love, their kind of love
And it was over every single time

3
I had had it, this last heartbreak
I swear shattered my rib cage
So I stopped trying to find you
Before you found me
I stopped trying to find you
And begun to find me for you
Digging deep within for the virtues
That I know HE embedded in me
Not just for my satisfaction, but for multiplication
And HIS glorification

4
Now I know the day is near
That day set for you to find me
Just as in HIS prophesy, I
Got your message
Loud and clear
I anticipate your arrival with
Faith and prayers to last
A lifetime together
In the love birthed
Just for us

©Belema .S. Ekine
341 · Aug 2017
WAXING MOON
No star in sight
For years on end
Just pitch black sky
And emptiness

The night came young
But now it is old
So why would it not
Give up the ghost

A light peeks out
Behind dark clouds
Shy and round
But still it shines

A waxing moon
On a journey grows
Delivering a bundle of
Joy in full term.

©Belema .S. Ekine
got a word challenge and the word prompt was: MOON
337 · Jul 2017
THE DOOR HANGER
Picture this:
Girl jumps up and down her bed lip syncing
Whitney's ' Dance with Somebody'
Girl cries every single time she watches a good love story
A helpless romantic she is

I was that girl
So when the day came
I fell HARD!
No shocker there
Thinking I was blessed because he fell harder
We were Adam and Eve in Eden
Before the biting of the apple
In our birthday suits without a care
Or a fear of prying eyes

And then it was all gone
Yanked from us
Futility became our reality
The naivety that was our future
I learnt it was never ours to keep
Evicted! we are to move
Onto our separate chapters
For vain had been my (our) inputs

Picture this:
Now
26 years 6months old
All drained out
Girl jumps up and down her bed lip syncing
No more , nothing left just
A Door hanger
That screams
'EMOTIONALLY UNAVAILABLE'

©Belema.S.Ekine
(belemascribbles)
332 · Dec 2018
DRY SPELL
I miss bleeding.
I have not bled in a while.

Not for lack of trying.  Believe me. I
Have scratched and scratched beneath
The surface. Like a bad rash each time.

I come up dry,  not a blood to smear.
It has happened before. More than once actually.

You would think.  By now.  I would know how to deal
With it.  But like conflict,  not one is exactly the same.
You would think.  I.  Would be patient.  This too shall pass.

But don't nobody got time for that. For to bleed is to live.

So I scratch. and I claw. Through this four.  Walled chamber

Till I bleed just enough.  To feed my pen.  To quench this thirst.


©Belema .S.  Ekine
©belemascribbles
It is a process
326 · Jun 2017
BREATHE AGAIN
Pacing in the dark
Beneath fluorescent lights
Seconds feigning minutes
As minutes mirror hours
Nerve wrecked
Is a mother of just a week
Pleading
God!!  I'll do anything
Just let my baby breathe
Again

©Belema.S.Ekine
One of the poems I have written this month as part of a 30day poem challenge
319 · Mar 2019
THERAPY
So much to tell you. So much to show you.
So many back and forth. So many two way -
Conversations and emotions,
Giving and taking,
Vulnerabilities and experiences,
Sharing and creating;

Yet I find myself holding back words,
Suppressing feelings I have not trusted
for quite a while now.

I am stuck, frozen with anxiety.
Anxiety is a leftover.  I hate leftovers because
I am proud like that.  Anxiety is the PTSD I get
from falling all my life and not noticing until,

I hit the ground face down,
taking you with me and my pride;
for I was so sure
It was you.

My focus was wrong. It was not you.
That **** humbled me like a heart attack,
so I hide in plain sight; making connections
but cautious of the depth so you have an idea of
                                                    
but not everything. It is for the best,
I tell myself. I have to protect my hurt or
so I thought ‘til you asked the question
‘are you scared on my behalf?’

Hmmmmm, I never thought of it that way.
I guess I am scared on your behalf but,
but if I told you that, then I will be telling too much
and  I cannot;  my shameful pride

would not allow me.  It is ashamed and
can take no more,
especially if it is not you.
                                    
I have said too much and I have not said anything.
I have gone back and forth with myself one too many times.
I want to trust what I feel again but first these leftovers;

I have got to dispose. They have got to go.
So,
Anyone know where to  find
a herd of pigs?

©Belema .S.  Ekine
©belemascribbles
Happy world poetry day!
310 · Dec 2017
ONE WORD, TWO LETTERS
Woman thou shall learn to say
NO

They shall know exactly what it means
Standing your ground, not wavering
on pebbles of compliments
or
stones of interests

Woman thou shall learn to say
NO

They shall put on their big boy pants
accept it for what it is
not shakara
just
a bold character

Woman thou shall learn to say
NO

Standing out in a pool of swimming folks
second to none
exceptional is the word
trust me

For never have they seen any like you
especially when they refer to the others
'Just Like You'

Never are they anything like you
Even when they say
"Am I Not A Woman Too'

©Belema. S. Ekine
one word two letters: NO
SHAKARA IS A YORUBA WORD IN THE NIGERIAN LANGUAGE WHICH MEANS TO 'SHOW OFF"
310 · Aug 2017
DISPOSABLE ME
You swore you never knew
What love was util you met me
You would not say the words
Until you meant them
Then you said them to me
In English and French repeatedly
You said if I ever went far away
You would never let me go again
You said you would never leave me
The morning after I dreamt
That you did with her
You said a wife you were asked to pick
Swiftly you chose me
You said you craved for only me
Dreamt of the night our wedding will be
Now these things have meaningless be
Because you are saying these words to me
"Tomorrow her parents I will meet
Just know our memories I will always keep
For Man proposes but God disposes
I wish you the best
Because you deserve it"

©Belema.S.Ekine
302 · Apr 2018
ROCKY ROAD
To love and to hold ........ till death do us part
Were words they said up on the altar
Right before the drive into the sunsert
But first a detour they took
To the place down the hill
Where it all began
Two strangers
Rock-paper-scissors
For the last rocky road dessert
In the glass.

©Belema.S.Ekine
(belemascribbles)
293 · Dec 2018
WELCOME LITTLE ONE
Look! A new star up above
A new wave is come upon us

Just as prophesy foretold
A child is born
Beneath Bethlehem's night sky
Wrapped up in swaddling cloth

O what a beautiful babe we have here
On a mission he has come

How do we welcome Him
Who did not just come but
Has always been in the beginning
With God

And is God
The Creator

Yes
The One who created the heavens and the earth
Said let there be light and there was light
The One who is King,  commands chariots of fire
With warrior angels at His disposal

His throne he leaves and now
He cries in a lowly manger filled with hay

JESUS is His name
O Sweet Baby Jesus
Vulnerable like the ones he came to save
O King Baby Jesus

The only one of his kind
Was, is or ever will be

For love is often given to babes when they are born
But love He brought with life's first cry
Love He taught,  Love He showed,  Love He gives
To all even though....

He comes so all can have life
Life in abundance

Yet He chooses to start life with an adventure
On a donkey,  across country
On the run from King Herod
Who was threatened by a little baby

O Great little one
Born with a destiny so grand

HE has chosen to live by example
For to save us,  HE becomes us to show us
Obstacles,  temptations, naysayers surround us
But our eyes we fix on the price

Just as HE did on the cross
For He lives so he would die

Die that we may live not only this life,
But the one eternal with the Father
His Father - God
For He has come to do His Father's work

This is His Son in whom HE is well pleased
Follow Him the new star

Like the wise men from the east did
With their gold, acknowledge his Kingship on earth
Adore His Priesthood,  Reverence His Sacrifice
Everyday for they are frankincense and myrrh

Treasures fit for the new born baby
The second person of the Trinity

Welcome
O
Little
One.

©Belema .S.  Ekine
©belemascribbles
Merry Christmas everyone
290 · Aug 2017
SHINING LIGHT
Watching the light at the end of the tunnel,
the tunnel I have come to call abode
I stay wrapped in the familiarity of the darkness
The darkness I have come to know as norm
Fearful of its mystery shining bright and infinite
Wondering what the heck it wants from me
I run!
Run further, run deeper int secret sins
I feel my no more, going through the motions
Tripping over hidden guilt,
I am caught!
Caught in the sand slowly sinking beneath
Feet by feet till the sixth I am pulled
Pulled into the darkness darker
Than the familiar, for this is the end
The one fashioned just for me
I wasn't watching for it but I saw it
The light! the very one at the end of the tunnel
It was there, still here
It never left
It followed me, It followed me!
Into the dark of the darkness for there
It shone brighter and brighter and that which
Was deep black now was lit white
With arms outstretched he pulled me out
On ground solid my feet he set
heart filled with joy this question I asked
Who are you?
With love like none i had ever heard described
He spoke these words in return
The light of the world
The way, the truth
The life, the Saviour
I am
JESUS!!

©Belema.S.Ekine
2 Corinthians 4: 6- For God, who said, " Light shall shine out of darkness", is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ
290 · Jun 2017
QUALITY OF THE QUANTITY
What is the quality of the quantity?

In a place where
He would get down
Rather than sit between two women in a public transport.

In a place where
She is asked why she walked ahead of him
Is told it is her place to walk behind him
And not enter a place before he does.

In a place where
He is scolded for being too attached to her hip
For fear that he will be soft and fragile
Hence 'NOT BE A MAN'S MAN'

In a place where
It does not matter
The level of education she gets or her IQ,
She is referred to as 'JUST A WOMAN'.

In a place where
He is left alone with responsibility of bills
Because he is the man and
it is his responsibility and his alone.

In a place where
She is locked out of their late brother/son's house
Because she didn't 'give' him a mini-him.

In a place where
Tradition is used as an excuse
To express their ******* nature
So he marries her
While she plays with her plastic doll.

In a place where
She is seen as not doing anything
Of importance or value
Because it cannot be quantified
As money at the end of the month.

In a place where
The number one mallam presents his "gimbiya" to the world
As a wound-up toy in his triangular doll house of dehumanization.

In a place where
WOMEN are tagged as not having what it takes
Because ONE woman failed at doing a thing

What is the quality of Our quantity?

  ©Belema.S.Ekine
gimbiya: (the hausa word in Nigeria) princess
mallam: (the hausa word in Nigeria and other parts of Africa) a learned man or scribe
284 · Sep 2017
IMPRINT
It is love at first sight on Aisle 9
At the grocery stand there she is
Basket in hand, kissed by the sun
Butterflies fluttering around from stomach to heart
Nerves exploding like lava betraying him inside out
She walks on by with a coy smile
For His love struck eyes staring just a little bit longer
Awakening the follicles on her arm.
With longing in his eyes
Like an Alpha imprinting on his mate
Alarm signals travel down her spine
In fearful excitement
He has found her,
The one who would make her feel
That which her unseeing eyes denied her.

©Belema .S. Ekine
283 · Jul 2017
ONLY.......OTHER
Whoever said
All is fair in love and war
Must have been soaked
In a pool of misleading naivety
For nought is fair to the
ONLY girl in the world
who now is the
OTHER woman in the picture

©Belema .S. Ekine
280 · Aug 2017
STILTS
He left me to drown
Swam to shore
Saving himself and the dreams
O! the dreams, we dreamt
Together or so it seemed
For I see now that 'we'
Was only 'he'
A typographical error on my part
For he had a dream, didn't
Necessarily need me
Any 'she' would do just fine
O! How naive I was,
How could I not have seen
Him for what he truly is
An imp
Walking around on stilts

©Belema.S.Ekine
275 · Jul 2017
SWEAT (10words)
For someone drenched in fear
She didn't break a sweat

©Belema .S. Ekine
10wordchallenge
265 · Aug 2017
PENDULUM
Little children with screaming ribs
Bulging eyes and feeble limbs
Stomachs filled with empty meals
Spirits broken in penury

Growing up unevenly
Economically and socially
Basic needs are luxuries
With less than one dollar coming in

Choices robbed,  Options deprived
The pendulum swings
Absolute and Relative
Survival chance Is dreary bleak

Cycle so vicious,  Our hatred grows
Like Perseus,  Our own heroes
We must now become
Slaying the beast at every turn

For like Medusa ,
Poverty is a dreadful Monster
With vices for hair
But not immortal

©Belema .S. Ekine
247 · Jul 2017
POOF!! (howwouldyoufeel)
How would you feel if
Dangling before you were the words
To expel the pain
Exorcise your demons
So you lift up your pen
And **** they are gone
Leaving you stranded on an island
With no message in your bottle

©Belema .S. Ekine
8linechallenge
246 · Apr 2018
RUNNING WITH MY NAME
I am not a wo(man) because someone says I am
I am a wo(man) because I am chosen by God to be
HE chose me to be part of this race, the Human Race
For it,HE gave me an Identity, HE gave me my Name
Peculiar to me, Qualifying me
to run this race. So I run.

Like every race, there are others too
Runners who cross my path, Cutting
In on my race, Kidnapping the gifts
Along my lane, Replacing the good
With pain and shame, Pasting on
My chest and back, an identity
not my own.

So that I say along with them
This is who I am, This is what I am
This is what as a wo(man) I must
Live through, endure and embrace

I am not a wo(man) because someone says I am
I am a wo(man) because I am chosen by God to be
HE chose me to be a part of this race, the Human Race
For it, HE gave me an Identity, HE gave me my Name
So I run this race. For I am

Qualified, I am Worthy
I am Enough, I am an Answer
I reclaim my race by grace
I am PROGRESS.

©Belema.S.Ekine
(belemascribbles)
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