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Ralph Akintan Aug 2019
Discordant voices from the womb
      of the earth,
Souls of men caged underneath
      the hollowness of deep,
Victims of steel bird,
Casualties of flying metal,
Reposing in the nest of earth
Tens of hundreds of names
      hanging on cenotaph of earth.
I heard the crying of Levi Ajounuma.
I heard the weeping of Matakori.
I listened to the wailing of Utomo.
I recognized their voices,
But l see them no more.

(for the victims of Dana air crash of June 3, 2012 in Lagos, Nigeria)
Ralph Akintan Mar 2019
We sang a dirge
But no tears to bid farewell.
We dug a grave
But no place to place a casket.
We erected a cenotaph
But no place to lay a wreath.

Sorrow clapped with one hand.
Rays of tragedy raced with one leg

To unlock the gate of tomb.
Town Crier's gong rendered
      sounds of sadness
To inform the confounded cenacle.

Will your pen still pen a farewell?
Will your ink speaks for itself?
Will the diarists still hear your voice?

You slumber till eternity.
But you will not die again.
Ralph Akintan Dec 2018
Fluttering fingers flicking
      the wisps,
Scattered particles helplessly
      staring like zombie.
Denizen of dispersal !
Scattering without gathering ?
Littering innocent sleeping shore
      with specks, refuse and
      wastages,
Preventing the marine beings
      from feasting on unsolicited
      booties,
While reigning over the aquatics
      casia.

Fishes glorying beneath your
      stool,
Celebrating in their splendid
      splendor,
Cherishing your inordinate
      habitat encroachment,
Relishing the cool bustling
      breeze,
Stuttering intermittently over
      natural abuse while your
      fingers beating the tombola
      drum of indifference.

Legion of blue blunting busied
      parading over the army of
      the waterbeds,
Savouring the delights of your
      majesty.

But why scattering the wisp
     on the river bank?
Devouring the hearts of the clean
      axis of the river bank.

Fresh air oozing from the gallery
      of neighbouring vegetation
      aromatized your bustling
      breeze, refreshing hearts,
Clear away your stink.
Evacuate your nuisance.
Ralph Akintan Dec 2018
In a day like this
At a time like this
On an occasion like this
When the hunter returns
From hunting expeditions
With an empty porch.


Where is the hope?
For the hunted
Where lies the matadors,
When the hunter returns
With baggage of nothingness?

Where is our hope?
When the rays of politics
Mitigate not our hardship
Sending a recourse to an ending hope

Call back our progenitors
Let the beats resonate again
To rechange this change
Their change and our hope
Where is our tomorrow?
Ralph Akintan Dec 2018
I heard your voice
Echoed sonorous voice pierces ears
Engrossing underneath babel of voices.
But this gurgling sounds l understand not.
Call me father.

I heard your rumbling,
Of a thunderous grumbling.
Velvety voice arrests attention.
Disturbing ranting of disturbers
Saying sounds strange
to hearing.
Now call me father.

Babylonian wall of distance ,
Spottering sentinels standing.
Seven seas,
seven streams.
Multiple ravines,
multiple ranges.
One terminus,
Gamut of posts.

Stretch forth your tender hands,
Reach out to me.
Similitude of aura
Similar light complexion
Bonding bloodline
Sameness in character.

Now l comprehended your voice
Distinct language
Encore my name
Call me father again
Mention my cognomen.
Ralph Akintan Nov 2019
Clucking sounds of clicking glasses of
      red wine cups.
Toast to the celebrator.
Journey of a half a decennary
Donning the toga of feast.
Pipers honing the trumpet of joy
From the bagpipe of celebration,
Announcing the dawn of a new epoch.

Spiral sounds of joyride of joy
Spittering new life.
Blissfulness chanting countless joy.

Count your blessings.
Winds of veneration blowing life.
Winds of honour fanning life.

We chant
Blessings of life.
We chorus
Blessings of longevity.
Count more years.
Yearn for more decennium,
On the walkways to greater strata
Ralph Akintan Feb 2019
I dialled your number.
I sent some messages.
Response held-up in
Vehicular traffic of
      silence.
Transmitting voidness in the
Midst of a dead silence from
A dead telephone line.

A loud silence responded,
Diverting answers into
The vortex of emptiness.
Clock of silence lightly enstopped
Beacons of response.

When l dialled your line,
When l sent some
      messages,
Voiceless echoes permeated
Membrane of hindrance,
Waging wars of friction.

But l dialled your number.
Ralph Akintan Jul 2019
But l never met you
I longed to meet you
You wrapped around toga of eternity
I longed to speak with you
You shut the door of eternity
Turning eternity unto eternity
Turning your back on us
Early exit opened glands of tears
Eyes closed unto eternity
But we love you.
Ralph Akintan Jul 2019
Shafts of courage depicted on the
      parchment of hope
Running into beamlight of victory
Leaning towards trunk of optimism
You speak courage
You emit courage
Protruding ribs of scalped stood
      on wingspans of surgery
At the hours of the night.

Spring of courage flown into the
      feeders of victory.
Spirit of courage locked-up
      scroll of fear.
Sun of courage dried up the
      stagnant sea of fear.

An entanglement of two wars
     fought with two divine axes
      of courage.
But you conquered fear.
Sneezing out the mucus of death
      from the nostrils of conquest,
Zooming like an eagle soaring into
      the waiting arms of the theatre.

Clipping the fangs of scalped with
      hope.
Withstanding the chilled cold of the
      night.
Resisting assault from the proboscis
      of mosquitoes.

Waiting for days in hours.
Tarried for result outside the fragile
      womb of life and hope
Tarried for positivity in anxiety
Pendulum of anxiety thickened the
      darkness of fear
But you whizzed back like a matador
      from the ordeal of a long journey
      of life.

A second Lazarus revoked the decree
      of death.
Ralph Akintan Sep 2019
Your small natural cavity captured
      my intuition.
Stationed on the post of cheeks
Winking lid of dimple detained
      my attention.
Rainbow of smiles injected
      fluids of beauty.

Your dimple draw me nearer.
Your dimple distract me
Encircling rainbow of beauty
Colouring chin like morning dew
Smile on and on

Your smile opened the door
     of my dimple.
Your dimple opened the door
      of my love.
Your love opened the door
      of our relationship.
Plant your dimple on my chin.
Ralph Akintan Feb 2019
Strands of eyebrow cruising
Neatly to the honeycomb's
Bridge of her nose.
Fever of restraint stampeded
Affection creating opening for
Atom of emotion and
Unrestrained flap of love.

When l saw you last,
Succulently tender *******
Arrested my eyes,
Unresistingly pointing
With magnetic elements,
Turning storms, waves and
Nerves over the base of my
      brainbox .

And when l see you now,
A glowing radiant stars
Matching towards my
Attractive zone, emerging
From the fringe of cautiously
Pointed ******* and sending
Chilled cold, awakened
Slumbering goose pimples
All over my entity.

When l see you now,
A fluid of love crippling
From axis of eyes beaming
With flashes of thunderous
Lighting heralding ******
      of emotion.

When l see you now,
My thought kidnapped
Your beauty distracting
My attention inside the
Grotto of the brethren,
Drawing body, soul and
Spirit apart and far away
From the prayers' cell
And detaining my
Emotion in the custody of
      your heart.

As l see you now,
Your beauty caged my
Attention, entombed my
Concentration deceptively,
In the sepulchre of your
      beauty.

Closing the doors of my eyes
To exhume the planted seeds
Of concentration, your
Apparition appeared again
And again from the theatre
Of beauty distracting my
Innocent attention, yet.

Akika! Your shining
Peacock-like skin ran
Tears of lust from my
Eyes, provoking my
Spirit to ignite waves
Of passion and
Seducing me with
Soporific mixtures,
Hypnotizing my being,
Away from the
Sanctuary of prayers.

When l see you now,
I heard a lullaby of
Emotion from your
Eyes,
I tasted omelette of
Love made of honey
From your pink lips.

Haba! Are you made from
      heavens?
Are you created on earth
      for the earth?

Dissecting your buttock
From the romantic attire,
I see acme of love emitting
Vapour of attraction from
A nicely curved hips,
Majestically sitting below the
Avenue of your waist,
Spitting sensation of
Lustful feelings with flashes
Of emotion, encamped my love
In the basement of your heart.

Holy Spirit! Take me away from
      the temptation of this
         daughter of Eve.
Ralph Akintan Feb 2019
Whirlpool of whirling quaint
Inequality brewing in the
Winepress of smithereens
Fragile polity.
Voices of weariness cried
Out from the wasteyard of
Waste for succour,
Pointing fingers of
Recrimination towards
The abyss of drouth ,
Entangled in conflicts
Of interest.

Winds of improvised emblem
Bearing hunchback of
Woes,
Raising hands from the
Drowning deep sea
For rescue like
A dejected beautiful
Vigaro in a
Turbulent ocean of quarrel
With her spouse.

Whereas reddish fluids of life
Runs across the same veins
And arteries of haves
And haves-not but
Cottage of interests
Hoisting avalanche of
Rainbow-coloured flags
Standing aloof on the
Pole of misrule,
Demarcating their interests.

No accommodation for wants
In the corridor of affluence.
Wants on a trade mission
With wealthy but caged in
The confinement of wealth.

Winds of inequality blew
Whirler of wants into
The marrow of the
Haves-not.
Rains of inequality passing
Through a lockage of lack
Into the improvised,
Doling-out poverty to
Gain the control of
Wealth.

Alas! Blindness sees inner
Vision of darkness from
The households of political
      lamia.
Alas! Deafness hears
Discordant vague voices
Of failure from the forest
      of frustration.
Alas! Dumbness speaks
Language of gnomes out
Of the vale of forgotten
      treasures.
Alas! A four year tenancy
      turning into decades
      of challenges.

But we shall revive our hope
      and raise our voices
            tomorrow.
Ralph Akintan Sep 2019
I have been to the sea,
But caught no fish.
I hunted in the forest,
But caught no bull.
I searched the oasis
I went to the north
I traversed the south
I peregrinated the east
I travelled to the west
But found no maiden

September first spoke to me
And l found my own
I heard her voice
I saw her picture
You are my maiden.
Ralph Akintan Dec 2018
I experienced experience
I witnessed experience

Swarming like wild bees
Swimming from the brooks
Of outer Marina
Racing into the fountain
Of Islet of Lagos.
Our Lagos,
Their Lagos.
Diverse religionists
On spiritual missions,
Raising up hands in supplications
For open heaven,
For praise and worship.
Some on mundane missions.
Spivs, urchins alike

But this congestion suffocated
Spaces wept for control
Sea breezes searched for outlets
From outer Marina

And wants of oxygen waves
Hands for recognition.
Both faithfuls, penitents , miscreants needed air for survival.
Protestations appealed for audience.
Legs spent and tired ,
Craving for rhapsodic attention

Where are more seats?
Where are more spaces?

Helpless ushers uncaring.

But from the stage roars
Songs of inspirations ,
Songs of supplications
Like war cries.
Sounds from desk to dawning,
Music from dawn into deskiness.
And seat glued me till cockcrow

Night broke into day.
Fading music expelled adherents
Out of arena.
A loud silence now reigned.

Freedom from the fangs of stampede.
I experienced experience
I witnessed experience
Ralph Akintan Dec 2018
The aura of darkness
Ooze out the rainbow
Of uncertainty
The rainbow of darkness
Spitting cloudy dews
Daylight speak to us
Daylight announce
Your appearance
Shall we tarry awhile?
Shall we long for
Day spring for illumination?
Withdraw the unseen
Mantra of fear
Replace the unfriendly
Mantle of discord
This stronghold
Shall be pulled down
Day spring speak to us
Dayspring announce
Your appearance
Enlighten us
Let there be light
From the tunnel
Of righteousness
Light be
Ralph Akintan Dec 2018
I see you in the sky ,
Far, afar off.
I watch you from the earth,
Far, afar off.
Brightness enlightens the
      vicinity from the grip of
      elemental forces,
Enveloping the entire arena and
      beyond like the mother hen
      brooding her children out
      of the reach of seducing eyes
      of a roaming hawks in the
      sky.
Your dome-shaped entity
      distinctively standing aloof
      like a magnificent rotunda
      palatial in the Arabian oasis.

Thirty nights of illumination,
When we spreads our mats
      to narrate tale under your
      watchful eyes.
When elders recounts narrative
      and ancient panorama of
      yesteryears.
When we clap,
When we sing,
When we dance
In the womb of your greatness.

Thirty nights of total darkness,
When lanterns endlessly
      searches for light to
      extinguish darkness,
When the night-callers
      terrorizes our quietness,
When the guardsmen work
      like wild wolves to fish
      out the sons of Belial,
When the night impels babies
      to retire to their cradles,
When the wiles of darkness
      inculcate an aura of fear into
       our minds.

Prolong your circles and
      brighten our hope.
You produces light,
You illuminates season.
Your neighbor reigns over
      days,
While you control the affairs
      of darkness.
Ralph Akintan Sep 2019
Axe of fondness extracted the juice
      of winking love
Under the hiddenite of affection.
Gentrified love appeared from the
      pond of trust.
Hammer of vagueness beating
      gentrified love on the anvil
      distraction.
Crawling tentacles of love dropped
      dew of fondness

Tell me more about your love.
Tell me more about the tale of our
      relationship.
Clouded past hunting winds of
      present.
Ego of reassurance whispering on
      emblems of inquisitive.

Love me and drop the tears of
      the past.
Love me and devour the morsels
      of newness.
Love me and place your hands on
      my heart.
Love me forever.
Ralph Akintan Dec 2018
Saintly cassock,
Glittering altar
Ornamental pulpit.
           
 

Driving the congregants
            in a paroxysm of fib,
Gullibility enshrines adherents
            hearts.
Do you know the Messiah more
            than the apostles ?
Thou traders in the temple.

Parrotic tongues set out
            commands
Loquacious sweet-coated mouths
            misdirects faithfuls.
But the uncreated Creator who
            creates creatures watches
Dreadful silence astonishingly
            permeates the entireness
           of the universe.
Do you preach love?
Do you follow peace with all?
Ye robbers in the temple.

Command darkness to produce
            light.
But you turned moonlight into
            tale.
Can you display Davidic dance
            steps on the road?
Profanity of sanctuary with
            false homiletics.
Merchants of dross in tabernacle

Speak.
Let us hear you.
Preach
To the congregants.

Righteousness afar from the
          apron of faith.
Charity locked up in the
          tunic of hope.
Sanctity of holiness sprinkled
          into the tributary of sin.
Commanding the stars to turn
           to sun,
Captains of night in light.
Ye robbers in the sanctuary.

Pastoral advertisers of chattels
           in the tabernacle,
Merchandising gold dross in
            sermonic hymns.
Sugar-coated doctrine wept in
             the tomb of Lazarus.
Prompting Him to weep again?
Ye merchants in synagogue.

Disentangle faithfuls from the
          webs of worriment.
Dislodge congregants out of the
          shackles of sin.
Deliver ignoramus from the
           isle of incendiary.
Let the sifter of strength
           separate out afflictions from
           feebleminded faithfuls.

Ye robbers in the temple
You love prayers more than God
But who answers prayers?
Ralph Akintan Sep 2019
Walking in the shade of the moonlight
Beaming rays of affection
      eavesdropping on dialogue
      of love.
Whispering stories of love racing
      along the tarmac of oneness
Give me your hands.
I have stories for you.
Ralph Akintan Jan 2019
Water of remembrance sprinkled
On the mountain crest of recollection.
Indulgent mussy memory catapulted
Stones of retentiveness into the
Courtyard of events like bricole
Of battles.
Pendulum of reminiscences swinging
On oscillating milage of roads like
Trotting horse with drippage of sweat
And itching foots.
Ghost of reminiscences restlessly
Roaming with carriage of yesteryear.

Final year educatees required
Boardinghouse,
But list of items engorged dear
Mother's treasury

"where do l raise money
to buy oyinbo mattress, Ilori?"

Mind pullulated with weariness.
Intonation of worries.
Cantillation of wants.
Deficiency of measured means.
Oyinbo mattress beyond ladder
Of reach.
Gluttonously waiting to devour
Lesser items,
But rays of compulsion unslammed
The gate of respite.

Lordly arrival warmly welcomed by
The dorm room's porter,
Walking majestically to the bed-space
With the acquired cotton wool and raffia leaves mattress.
Gamut of items passed through the eagle's eyes of the housemaster.
Silver painted pail donated by a neighbour passed through the sentry of inspection,
And got its admission.
Mother's used cloak turned bedsheets
Passed through the rigorous scrutiny.
Newly built portmanteau unlocked and neatly dissected, item by item.

Agazed eyes focused on the cotton wool and raffia leaves hand-made mattress.
Expectations rattled mumbling astonishment.
Legs stuck in the mud of mystification.
Telepathic dews covered ocean of thought.
Tranquil silence engulfed vicinity,
Deflating the balloon of hope like a litigant awaiting verdict from the jurist's chambers.
Porter's gesticulating gesture connoted nothingness of demeaning disapproval, perambulating on the hilly terrain of approval.

Akimbo stood l.

Now the verdict!

Molten volcanic magisterial command erupted in a gestapo gesture,
Spudding out from the barytone's baritone voice from the selfsame housemaster,
From the bastion of authority,
And the house generalissimo like a wild brant squalled, matter-of-factly,

"we do not accept bed bugs cotton wool and raffia leaves hand-made mattress here".

Entreaties collapsed.
Ralph Akintan Sep 2019
We counted the days.
We monitored the events.
Days piling over days.
Events spiraling over events.
Consuming the woefulness of
      decades.
Erasing the trial of years.

Twelve days returning from
      the field of corns.
Twelve days sojourning in the
      orchid  gold.

We counted the days
We monitored the events

Bitter water turning salty
Drought yielding bumper harvest.
We shall count more blissfull days
We shall monitor more eventfull event
Ralph Akintan Jun 2019
Nurse! Nurse!!
Call me the physician
Adjust my bed
Place me on drip-feed
Call me the doctor.

Sentinel! Sentinel!!
Call me the cops
Arrest the reckless chauffeur
Hold him in custody
Call me the cops.

Attorney! Attorney!!
Call me the lay-judge
Issue out assize
Charge him before the assizes
Call me the magistrate.

Fractured bone posted pangs of pain
Fiery flaming fire from the base of an
      impaired anvil of marrow
Across the abyssus of a bruising
      incidence of life,
Discharging fitful fiendish fire of
      pains like a flue of a chimney.
Crutches snobbishly granted no
      audience.
Call me the doctor.

Claws of cramps configured anthills
      of uneasiness.
Plaster of Paris laying siege of
      muteness over prescient of
      innocent protege.
Blockage of accessible membrane
      defied osmotic exit.

Physiotherapist!
Disengage this staring cast.
Ralph Akintan Nov 2019
Torrents like sayings.
Cliffs of abuses raining floods
      of wasted wards.
Saliva of uncouth bluffs
      unstoppably raining.
Dripping parrotic halitosis of abuses

'....wash your mouth'........

Rustic unwashed mouth spitting
Countless dews of gashing abuses
Lock up the tunnel of wastages
From the unrestrained drains.
Unchained gutter gutted the aroma
      of peace,
Like a rushing fire of hell.
Muted silent covering podium of still
And gangling abuses
Rebrushing,
Rearranging,
Resettling,
Renovating,
Relocatin­g
Scaffolds of alignment.
Ralph Akintan Nov 2019
Kutupa kutupa
Eshin dodo
Kutupa kutupa
Eshin dodo

Gaiting out of the prescient of
      the stable with pride.
Galloping for space on the polo course.
Hooves trotting on the footmark
      of strength.
Now cantering for span with the
      shield of victory.
White tail of strength flapping
      the cognomen of success.

Kutupa kutupa
Eshin dodo
Kutupa kutupa
Eshin dodo

Immaculate white mane arrays
      against the ants of winds,
Absorbing the residuum of the
      hardened breeze with relish.
Whitening coloured cresty neck,
White head, brown eyes,
White legs, blackened hooves,
Colourless long shaft holding the
      ***** of procreation.
Swinging like pendulum of nature.

Kutupa kutupa
Eshin dodo
Kutupa kutupa
Eshin dodo.

Submissive strength clocked under
      the apron of the stableman.
Cantering with honour.
Galloping  in royalty.
Head collar rope ordering the
      pace of strength.
Hostler tightly chained on the
      tray of stableman.

Kutupa kutupa
Eshin dodo
Kutupa kutupa
Eshin dodo.
Ralph Akintan Dec 2018
The price l paid
Ozzed out hope in me.
This price l paid
Bailed me out of the pangs of woes.


Toiling days and nights
Drilling rocks like woodpeckers.
They hoped against hope
But l hoped not for nothingness.
Sweat dripping from the pores of laborious tasks.
Marching on droplet by droplet like Trojans of old.

Now the price l paid
Sprouted goodness in me.
Embraced supplications granted peace.
Traversed paths led to success.
Peregrinated road turned wailing to hosanna chants.
The sea l navigated draped me with toga of glory.
This price l paid
Ralph Akintan Dec 2018
Flapping flattering fingers
Of restless waves,
Trilling
Rolling
Curling.
Waves upon waves cascading
Watching from your cross line
Why struggling for a mark?
Of Olympian of Balkan peninsula

Labouring for a price?
Struggling for honour?
Of pro bono competition.
Restless
Hastening
Unabated.

Are you ocean?
Are you Leviathan?
Ye gods of water,
Still your ambition
Ralph Akintan Feb 2019
Recircled czars drenched
In the blood of despotic swayers.
Encircled proteges with the
Aura of treacherous thorns
Keeping vigils in the basilica
Of authority
Year in,
Year out .

Selfsame partners in politics,
Selfsame partners in crimes,
Selfsame partners in progress
Selfsame partners in poor
      governance,
Setting subservient subjects
In perilous bays of hopelessness.
Scale of disengagement
Dangling carrots of
Intimidating threats.

Recircled ideas.
Recircled inhuman governance.
Recircled personages.
Recircled wasted years.

Deluge of prognostic plans
Sinking boats of tale.
Decades of experience yielding
Inexperienced tzars.
Torn garb of treachery
Covered up blazers of falsehood.
Stench of stasis enthroned on the
Stool of power, wrenching
      corruption from the grip
      of guilt.
Populace sitting on sulky
      directing the horse of
      hardship with the
      wailful whips of
      perseverance.

Epochal terms of wastages
      roll in
      and
      roll out
      like a spiraling
      viperine grass
      snake
      beneath the
      hybrids of weeds
      on a crest of
      spring cress.
Yet, promises promoting
Superannuated gains of
Effortless dividend.
Ralph Akintan Jun 2019
Blood dripped into the blood banks
      of brutish brutality.
Groaning gouts of gore grasping for
       gust of life.
Ritual incantations buzzed along
      the bunker of blood like the
      whooshing sound of a gopher
      snake.

Cauldron of ritual sheltered
      cauldron of extinction.
Gourd of sacrifice raised tentacles
      of trials
Over the Galileans' blood.
Innocent blood mingled with
      sacrifice.

But were they sinners?
Din of disapproval cleared the
      coast of doubt.
Nay !
Ralph Akintan Sep 2019
Night flashes on sceptre of verdicts
Day roamed around garden of love.
Discourse entangled your love.
Setting me on throne of hope
Setting me on mountain top
Will you hold me tight?
Will you open your mind?

I feel your pulse.
I feel your love.
I sense your feelings
And your attraction touched me
But your beauty confused me
I lurk not my love
In the cauldron of indecision

Come home and touch me
Come home and lay your head
On the cubicle of my love
Open the isle of your heart unto me.
Ralph Akintan Nov 2019
Darkness of lies overpowered
Vicious rumours in the lighthouse
      of deceit.
Hanging pipers tune unheard.
Bearing the carriage of voiceless
      echoes,
Perforating the calabash of necked
      truth.

You lied lied lied

Shouting from house roof.
Voices unheard beneath.
Lies dancing unabated.
You lighted the touch of wary lies.
Assemblage of co-travellers
Massed on the lawn of deceit.

You lied lied lied.
Ralph Akintan Nov 2019
Slumbering all night
On the cradle of comfort.
Mixing the oil of night
With the wax of sleep.
Conjuring the day to night.

Protruding womb of the day
Howling for the birth of light
Unfolding the mantle of darkness

Awake from timing slumbering.
Awake from caging nightmare,
Awake from the deadening
      slumbering
Awake now Ma'am Jonah.

Conquering gnome of darkness
Standing beneath the shades of
      the iroko tree.
Poachers of darkness hunting
      for the river's manna.
Mauraders of darkness peeping
      through the lintel of trials.

Awake from sluggish slumbering
Awake afresh into the newness of
      dawn.
Awake Ma'am Jonah.
Ralph Akintan Dec 2018
Snoring gangling giant,
Slumbering away on a snowy
      night.
Spoil of war unprotected,
Opening ways for ingress of
      worrisome infiltrated
      interlopers.
Remember the lord of Philistine
      Samusini,
Who returned not from the
      seductive antics of his
      mistress,
Perished in the furnace fire of
      frustration,
And drowned in the Laguna of
     no return

Slumbering hindered the move
      of the water.
Howling of devourers enclosed
      your shack.
Heterocercal caudal fins of
      sharks prevented the sailing
      of ships.
Wolfished wailing of tidal waves
      consumed the anchorage
      ground.
And the apparition of foes
      lurked-up in darkness like
      the foehn on the Alps.

Awake before the devastating
      night owl.
Awake from the abyss of deep
      slumber.
Awake before the cockcrow,
When darkness of defeats
Controls the reigns of night.
Snoring gangling giant,
Awake unto light.
Ralph Akintan Dec 2018
Your love waited so long.
Your affection waited too long.
Promises in abeyance.
Dying in anxiety of expectations
Ozone layer could not hold rays
      of Azania's sun.
Emitting fire of hysterical
      jubilations.

Arrival in hold, mistily shrouded
      in mystery.
But one day, one moment,
One belief, one fulfillment ,
Appearance announced
       unnoticed.

Wait no more for so long.
Wait no more for too long.
Reality eclipsed empty promises
Arrival overturned unbelief,
In the enclave of Azania.
In the bowel of rainbow.
Ralph Akintan Jan 2019
Harmless showery harming
Drove of peddling mongers.
Harmless harming torrent
Harming horde of hucksters.
Humming a melody of venting
      distraction.

Pouring brimful harmless rain
      like glacier racing across the
      cliff of rocks.
Shutting doors of coop out of
      the sphere of ataraxis.

Watching helplessly from the
      refuge of dislocation for
      receding arms of a
      tyrannical torrent.

But spitting fire produced no
      venom of fire.
Heralding floods of occupation
Colonising footway of the bloc.
Emissaries of fertility from the
      sky hoarding tranquillity.
Marking time out of attention.

Rain no more !
Ralph Akintan Jul 2019
Wailful wailing l heard
Roiling current of tears from the oasis
Scale of sorrow surged down tears
Turning ashes for ashes
Spiraling echoes of tears recoiling
Will you return again?
Wait for us
On the resurrection day.
Ralph Akintan Mar 2019
Strutting stuttering town crier
Crying, howling and barking
But dews of cry spilling
Over blighted ears of a messed
      mildews.
Obduracy of hearts prevented
Waves of warning.
Binding the wings of wisdom
Behind the altar of recriminations.
Let your crying pierced
Through grommet of grimy
      grubby spivs,
And exhume foetus of righteousness.

Strutting stammering bellman
Howling for attention of inattentive
      sullen audience.
Poles of attention standing
Away from the lobes of ideas
Murmuring with inattentive agenda
Like the babbling of a rustling
      dry leaves.
Say your saying
Out of the babel of noises
Cry your crying
To the congested muddled
      market of voices.
Tricorne hat's bellman
Howl your howling to the strangers
      from the strange land.
Ralph Akintan Mar 2019
Now that the daze of drought has cleared,
And the torrent has stopped,
The cloud of harvest gathered
In the womb of the sky.
Cord of famine has broken,
Trembling under the transformational winds of coolness, making our farmland to yield bumper harvest, banishing the vessels of poverty.
        

Forest adorned the toga of greenness and the beasts in their loneliness, hiding under the cooler shade of trees.
Farmers regally rejoiced in the natural endowment.

Now that the rain has stopped
Let the shekere of harvest announces its arrival.
Ralph Akintan Mar 2019
Now that the war has ended
Vanquishers counted the vestige
Of casualties, eulogising the forgotten souls at the unmarked graveyard.
But we waved the olive branch to stop the callous carnage.
Victims' dirge polluted the air of regret.
Table of settlement shedding tears of rustiness.

Now that the war has ended
Widows endlessly waited for entombed spouses to fail failure of loneliness.
Glory of souls stored in the belly of graveyard, protesting early exit.
Darkness of sorrow eclipsed rays of joy.
Tears from the cheeks of the cenotaph promulgating decree of condemnation
Cemetery gathered glory, treasure, and destiny in its banks.

But now that the war has ended, let the kakaki of peace sounds.
Ralph Akintan Mar 2019
Now that the feast has ended
And the beats of biripo has stopped
But dance of joy ceased not
Leaping us to a greater strata of blissfulness.
Neighbours peeped through the gate of fellowship
To cheer in our success.

Basked in the euphoria of success
We counted the baggage of jubilation.
Our celebration detonating the explosive dynamite of joy like harmattan wildfire consuming the field of sorrows.

Now that the feast has ended
Let the bembe of celebration resonates.
Ralph Akintan Jul 2019
Weariness of straining stress
In a bedchamber of thick darkness
Illumination drowned in the
      darkfield of ******
Mysterious mole in the conclave
      of concord
Crawler of cruelty crawling for prey
Eulogising gods of darkness for
      caging light in the attic of
      darkness.

Espionage goon of evil
Drenched in darkness to sell sorrow
Where are you migrating from?
Where are you swaggering to?
In bewilderment, my spirit watched
      you
In astonishment, my soul monitored
      you
But my body wallowed in deep-sea
      of deep dreamless slumber.

Creeping like a poacher
In swarthiness of darkness
Habitant of evil you are
To sting
To ****
Denizen of death you are
To turn hubby to widow-man
Undertaker of tragedy you are
To turn wife to widow-woman
Envoy of hemlock of hell you are
Dweller of darkness
Agent of disaster

But suddenly!
And suddenly!!
Light engulfed the aura of darkness in
      the cavity of Illumination
Lucidly l saw you
Clearly l heard you
Dangling proboscis of danger
Waggling poisonous *** end of death
You stuck on the wall
To sting
To ****

Helplessly you watched me
Now pray your last prayer
Clod of callousness
Vasoconstrictor of wastages
What is your real name?
Scorpion!
Ralph Akintan Jul 2019
In you l unearthed that virtue
But l found not its root
Searching for your love
Elusiveness outstretched ego
       of engrossment
Yet l found not its base

Endless throng of thoughts
Mulling over template of affection
Craving ceasingly to grasp the
      helm of your love
Abused norms of affection in
      deepened disarray
Sending wailing waves of objection
Spreading wisps of grumbling grouch
Across the diastasis of lustfulness
To register my attention
Coded in label of love
Branded in toga of luxuria

You yielded not to my entreaties
You craved not to my appeals
Yet negativity of consent gaggged me
Around the cubicle of consciousness
Straining shunners out of the
      strainers of stressfulness.

I have discovered your love
Yet l cannot find the root
But inwardly
I search!
I search!!
And search!!!
Ralph Akintan Sep 2019
You wept but no tears
Gland of tears secretes dry tears
Weep no more
Wash away dry tears into the
      glaciers of oblivion.
Relics of tears waited at the
      pool of pleadings
Unbinding manacle of distrust.

But you wept without tears
Let there be dry tears of joy.
Let there be dry tears of peace.
Dry tears of love, be.

— The End —