all that pain
and belittlement
you served me
day and night
when no one
was looking
made the little
man within you
feel much, much,
much bigger
but now you
stand before me
weeping
with no teeth
and the big man
within me
has forgiven you.

If you live amongst the trees
It might stymie the disease
That could otherwise
Rot out
The thing
You can't talk about
Away from
Awkward truth
And
The ungodly overproof
You might think
You could get out
The things you want to talk
About.

Head full of hope like Elpis' pocket,
Gracefulness of a newborn pegasus.
Guarding the gate to her heart like Cerberus
While bearing the burden that is Atlas',
She steeled her resolve,
And forged her dreams, Hephaestus.

It’s the kind of sadness where your rib cage
Contorts
And twists and
Snaps.

Depression doesn’t float through my veins
It crawls through my bones, with dagger hands
And winding movements.

I cannot breathe.

And yet there was nothing taken from me.

Jagoran Al'umma, Jarumi Jagaba
Adalin Adalcin, jagaba babu adawa
Gagara badau namijin yan siyasa
Aminin Talakawa, Najeriya babu kamar ka
Bola Ahmed, Dan Tinubu kaine Asiwaju
Alheri ne kai, ko ina baka mugunta
Najeriya sai kai, kai ma sai Najeriya