Ek naadan parinde ka haath aapne thaama,
Apne dil mein diya sabse khubsurat thikana.

Phool ki mehak ko jaata nahi churaya.
Suraj ki kirne ko jaata nahi chupaya.

Khuda ne itna sikhaya hai mujhe,
Aapke liye dua karu khud se pehle.

Mere dil ka dard kisne hai dekha,
Ye dost muskaan ke peeche ki kahani padh leta.

Vaada karte hain ye rishta dil se nibhayenge,
Aapki shiddat mein hadd se guzar jayenge.

Dil se maangi thi dua rabb se,
Qubool hui ibadat mulakaat hui jab aapse.

Duniya ki daulat hey ishwar nahi chahiye mujhe,
Sabse anmol tohfa mila jo jud gaye sanjog unse.

Dadhkano ki dadhakti har awaaz hai sirf unki,
Pyaar mein tabdil ** gayi hamari dosti.

Chand sa hai mukhda,
Mere jigar ka tukda.

Bin tere jiyenge ab hum na ek pal,
Tujhse juda hai aane wala har kal.

Bhut sataya humne aapko aapka jawab dene mein,
Hanji hum bhi chahte hain aapko aapki shiddat se.

Jud gye dil se dil tak,
Mujh par sirf hai aapka hakk.

Rooh se rooh ka rishta hai hamara,
Tujh bin ek pal nahi humein gavara.

Chadha diya hum par rang apna,
Poora hua ek pyaara sa sapna.

Aasman mein jab tak sitaro ka hai basera,
Ek dusre ka hain hum sahara.

Meri zindagi ke saaton janam hai aapke naam,
Aapke hi rahenge hum bheja khuda ko paigaam.

Pyaar mera rago mein lahu ban daude,
Apna sab kuch tum par qurbaan kar de.

Tum saath ** tou zindagi mein hai bahaar,
Tere bina zindagi bhi hai meri bekaar.

Khuda kasam har saans sirf tumhari,
Tumse hi judi hai zindagi hamari.

Rabb jaane kya lekh likhe unhone,
Milaya hai jab aage bhi whi sambhale.

Mai teri ** gayi haa mahiya,
Har kadam saath hain hum saathiya.

Rabb se pehle tumko yaad kiya,
Apna dil tumhe de diya .

Sacchi mohabbat tumse kar baithe,
Pta nahi chala kab hum aapke ** gye.

Zindagi se judi hai hayat aapki,
Aapka pyaar jaise maa ki thapki.

Har mod par saath hai aapke,
Chahe waqt kitni karwat badal le.

Aapki pagli sirf aapki hai yaara,
Tum bin kaun hai hamara.

Intezaar hai besabri se humein us din ka,
Jis din aapke naam se judega naam hamara.

Aapka har dukh hamara hai sajna,
Hamari har khushi par naam hai aapka.

Tumko bhi hai khabar,
Aye mere humsafar.

Maut ki gaud mein sone ke baad bhi,
Alwida nahi hai kehna humein kabhi.

Gujarish hai khuda se ,
Kabhi juda na karna unse.

Ek sang hi mitti ki chadar odh so jayenge,
Sacchi mohabbat dil se nibhayenge.

Mohabbat se kai upar hai mohaabat aapse,
Aisa koi shabd nahi jo ise piro ske.

Chaha tha humesha se humsafar mahadev jaisa,
Qubool hui dua hamari jo mila mahiya aisa.

Dilon ki awaaz mein hai itna asar,
Yaad kare joo ** jaati hai khabar.

Ibadat karne ka wo khubsurat lamha mile,
Tou hum apne humsafar  ke saamne sajda kar le.

This is Nigeria

This is Nigeria; presidency turns sick leave.  

This is Nigeria; one-sided democracy.  

Double standard constitution, everything is dazy.

This is Nigeria; police bus be calling crowd.

Enter and become cowed.  


This is Nigeria; best graduating student gets a thousand naira.

This is Nigeria; I hope we can differentiate between private and public institutions.

Lackadaisical attitudes everywhere, except religion institutions.

This is Nigeria; over a year strike in our foremost sector but it's  a norm.

Corruption; a living form.


This is Nigeria; education is dull.

This is Nigeria; economy problem is solved by increased school fees.

Such government still gets a second term. Madness; it's our liss.

This is Nigeria; lot of resources but we still pray for light.

Food, security and rights.


This is Nigeria; lecturers give grades anyhow.

This is Nigeria; Animal is swallowing money.

In a government with the main aim of fighting corruption, it's funny.

This is Nigeria; politicians changing parties.

Playing with our lives like they're *******.


Peter Oyebanji (PIRO)

i.*   i've always loved the way the earth looks from an airplane window, small enough that i can filter through an entire city with my fingers and never encounter a single face that inhabits it. but this time, i looked out and could see nothing but green for miles. it was as if god himself could put his infinite hands together and they would still fill with trees and branches and coffee-stained rivers instead of people. i didn't know it was possible to drown in so much color.

ii.   a man who spoke in splintered english and carried a machete told me that he could survive in the rainforest for a month without supplies, that the jungle ran through his bloodstream as he imagined gasoline and city lights flickered through mine. the day he took us hiking on the trails, he glided through the understory barefoot, pausing just long enough each time to see if we were keeping up.

iii.   some mornings, i lay in bed still wishing i could turn the chorus of car horns outside my window into the songs of howler monkeys echoing across the treetops and into my dreams.

iv.   at night, we walked down a beach, dragging sand and weariness in our socks and watching the waves crest along the shore. i looked to my right and the stars leaned so close into the forest that they simply became twinkling electric lights atop palm tree lampposts. my feet even tasted the stars beneath them; when i kicked up sand, tiny constellations startled scurrying ***** into the tide.

v.   you will always be the first country that trusted me with a bottle in my hand, as i stole through the midnight streets of san pedro with the taste of *** mixing in with the laughter i felt hidden under my tongue. and in the morning, i awoke to a faint dizziness and the memory of boys who bought me drinks and asked for nothing more than a dance and a handful of stories in return.

vi.   *muy exótica, they murmured as i walked down the road, my heartbeat syncing with the wheels of my suitcase as they rolled over the uneven dirt. a pair of enamored scarlet macaws held no magic for them now; the real exotic specimen was the girl whose almond eyes were filled with desert sand, whose skin only became mocha when the sun stared at it too long. they couldn't turn away.

vii.   i still have countless bug bites that dance across the backs of my legs in tingling trails. i hope the scars stay long enough for me to trace them back to the place where they were choreographed.

viii.   only one of a thousand sea turtle hatchlings will reach adulthood, yet i watched one of eight make its way from my hand to the ocean until it caught the sunrise and disappeared. i kept my palm open as i waved goodbye, hoping he would someday be able to read his way back home.

ix.   the last night, we danced under a shower of stars and you told me about a time that you smoked until twilight and saw sea turtles dancing on the beach to bob marley. while we were sitting there wishing the storm would swallow up time, i imagined piro beach was littered with the shells of sea turtles using the moonlight as it pulsed off the waves to teach each other how to salsa too.

x.   i've never written a love song, but i spent my days in a hammock wishing i knew enough words in spanish to weave together one for costa rica. i wonder if i will spend my life falling in love with places and scattering pieces of my heart across the continents like turtle eggs without ever finding the one location i'd like to bury them deep into the sand and wait for life to dig its way back out.

Samay ghadi pe bajke 2,
aur dil kehta hai ab suno..
khayal se mujhme aate hain...
tu likhta ja, chal ja piro...

Aur main kalam ka aashiq hoon,
jo pannon ko ab bharta hoon,
kuch adhoora sa thaa inme wo..
main poora sa ab karta hoon...

Syahi ki darkaar hai,
Shabdon ki to kami nahi,
Jo kalam mein syahi bhari hui,
woh pannon pe meherbaan hai....

With the pen, we linger.
Our heart, we pored out.
Our feelings, the clearer.
Finding words; when we are, it's like a bout.

Very spiritual, ask the real ones.
Pain-free, when it's coming easily.
Pain-ful, the writer's block forms.
Sigh! Finding motivation for our gree.

Blissful, it's our hope.
Unsubdued, a talent that brets.
In a globe full of glope.
We've found our own trait.

Having fun with intelligence, we often let out.
Ideas, muchly underrated.
Flashed stuffs, the world's missing out.
Desole poets, I know I've understated.

Peter Oyebanji (PIRO)