Sweating on my mat, I curse!
As the light dimly flickers
Off and on it wavers
Like a torch amidst a storm.
For the ten thousandth time I wonder
What is wrong with mother?
My aggrieved home and country
Her pain is mine to bear.

She has many a tale to tell
Troubled much from deep her belly
Wonder how much she can endure
Till body and soul give in.
She was blessed by the heavens
Much to the envy of all
Yet! Alas, she mourns
And weeps in pain untold.

Time and again she follows
Sheepishly trusting her shepherds
She has had a quite a number
With tongues unknown and known
Her plight is not their vision
As she inevitably learns
Her wool and meat and milk
Are all they dare to care.

She breeds enough to share
And feed her dying lambs
But much is lost to thieves
Who lurk in shadows of shepherds.
Destined for royalty she was
But penury has robbed her glory
Awake! Oh mother Nigeria!
And reclaim your lost birthright.

© Raphael Uzor

“You are the leaders of tomorrow”
They told us over and over
Right from the tender age of three
Through childhood and adolescence.
We have outgrown our youth
We are now mature men
We have come of age to lead
Just as promised decades ago.

At a recent gathering
Our *leaders of yesterday
Stricken with age and power
And long overdue for retirement
Addressed us, saying,
“Bla bla bla, bla bla, bla bla bla…”
“You are the leaders of tomorrow”*
That last statement jolted me awake
From his uninspiring, boring speech.

Then it dawned on me
We are a sleeping generation
We have long been waiting- sleeping!
When we should be leading
Our greedy, power-drunk leaders,
Will die in active service!
They will NOT hand over to us!
Not if we sit and wait for them.

I had a *revelation that the “tomorrow”,
We were promised “yesterday”
Is fast becoming yesterday, today!
And while the Nigerian youth sleeps
His chance is being usurped by his fathers
Yesterday we heard this promise
Today we hear the same promise
But come tomorrow, we will be too old to lead
And our children’s turn, it will be.

We have been scammed of our future
By the very ones we entrusted them with
And like turns in a game of scrabble,
We have missed ours- forever!
Our leaders are old men
Who have no faith in youths
And come tomorrow, our children,
Will have graves to look up to

Because we would have no experience
From which to advise them…
And like an unwanted track on a CD
Our generation would have been skipped
By the geriatric push of a ⇒ button!


© Raphael Uzor

When ink kisses paper
Leaving his marks on her
Staining her Immaculate white
Corrupting her innocent purity
With unspoken words and lines,
Punctuated with figurative styles,
Embedded with phonetic rhymes
Of divine charismatic beauty;
Sweet poetic lyrics are born...*


© Raphael Uzor

When I did a good thing
They said it wasn't right
And when I did the right thing
They said it wasn't good.

Sometimes I'm stuck between deciding
What's good and what's right
'Cos sometimes good can be wrong
And right can be not-so-good.


© Raphael Uzor

What I thought was love
Was really just head knowledge
Love is way deeper!
•
Such grace, undeserved!
Too obscure for mere mortals
God's agape LOVE!
•
Unconditional!
Loving me beyond my will-
And without merit!
•
Loving me dearly,
He instilled His love in me
Letting me love Him...*


© Raphael Uzor

Like pieces on a chessboard
I took a leap of faith
Taking my destiny in my hands
Challenging uncertainties of fate...*


© Raphael Uzor

We die every night
Fortunately, we wake up,
Yawn, and say, "morning!"*


© Raphael Uzor

Its an addiction...

When you relish every word
And see beauty in written lines,
Seeing them romance each other
While everyone see paragraphs.

Its an addiction...

When you idolize pens like brush
And adore papers like canvas,
When you see things in 4D
In a three dimensional world!

Its an addiction...

When you see colorful shades of gray
While everyone sees blacks and whites,
When you see words come alive
And embark on every poetic voyage.

Its an addiction...

When everything is beautiful
Be it tragic, happy or vague,
As long it's expressed in words
In a seamless, caressing way!

Its an addiction...

When you peek into Hellopoetry
When you know you should be working,
When you see poetry in everything
And must hurry to write and share.

It's an addiction...*

When you read these lines of mine
And proceed to click ♥
Yes! I am deeply addicted!
And no! I do not need a shrink!


© Raphael Uzor

After all this while,
Mona Lisa of poetry
Is still a mirage...*


© Raphael Uzor

She shed a tear
But no one knows why
Whether for joy, sorrow or fear
One wonders what makes her cry

To no one does she tell
The reason her eyes swell
I'm guessing fumes from an onion
Or tears have become her *****!


© Raphael Uzor

My life began
When I realized it
"I am nothing!"*


© Raphael Uzor

She wins...
She always does

After a long busy stay
From missing her all day
I go home to her
And she's there, she's always there,
Patient, soothing and tender
Luring me to bed...
As I fight her charms,
Trying to stay up; workaholic impulse raging!

I win...
For a moment or so

Daring to focus
For a couple more hours
Desperate not to give in
At least not without a fight.
She peeks out from our bedroom
Sneaking up from behind,
As I snooze momentarily
But I can't win this fight, there's no use trying!

Accepting defeat, I embrace her
Letting her caress me

She entraps me all night
I'm lost, against my will
I know I'll wake up guilty,
Wishing I could send her away
But I'm stuck with her for life
And she takes so much of my time
Time I could use for work
But no, she won't let go; not when I always yield!

And no, she's not my wife
She's not even my girlfriend
Not some girl from across the street
Just a nobody, named Sleep!


© Raphael Uzor

She said she was Ibo
And spoke with a fake accent
Wanna’s and gonna’s
Littered her speech
Not a trace of Igbo, in her exotic accent.

She smirked boldly
As I answered my phone
Greeting my friend natively
In a lavish of deep expressions
So deep, only Ndi Igbo can share.

With a ****** passport
She spoke better than most Britons
She was born in her village
Yet all she knows is “bia”
She thinks she’s cool, I think she’s lost!

The whole point of wooing her
An “mgbe-eke” from the east
Was so we could regularly, take a break
From all formalities and English
And bask in mother tongues…

I might as well be yoked
With a foreign damsel
For the whole purpose of looking within
Is defeated if your tongue is white
And we can only commune in “oyibo”

Call me tribalistic
Call me uncivilized
Call me superficial if you will
But what you call vernacular
The same is my root. I am proudly Igbo!


© Raphael Uzor

I saw her once in passing
Once only!
But once was enough
For I never stopped seeing her
She was everywhere
She was everyone

All day, all night
My heart gave her no rest
Tirelessly and aimlessly
She roamed through my mind

For days and weeks and months
Our paths never crossed again
I was grieved!
I should have made my move then

But how could I?
How do I approach such beauty?
With what would I catch her fancy?
Why should such perfection, regard me?

Would I ever see her again?
Was she gone forever?
The thoughts made me nauseous,
Made me sweat and shiver all at once.

Time passed
And she faded with it
She was gone forever.
I will never see her again
I dwell on more concrete thoughts now
As I leave the office, famished.

Entering a cafe
I spot a familiar figure by the bar
All fatigue and hunger flee-
She's the one!

I approach her,
As the DJ plays something soft
I forge on,
Fighting my greatest fear.

With a husky voice that barely made it out,
"Hello", I whisper
She turns, facing me squarely
Eyes so lovely, piercing my being.
Eternity must have passed, cos she awoke me
"Yes?" She blurted
I gawk for a moment, then I stutter,
"I, I **** at pick-up lines, but can I have this dance?"
She smiles!
Revealing perfectly crafted, white teeth (unlike mine)
Increasing my already rapid heartbeat
As she offers her left hand,
And I take it in my right
And lead her to the dance floor,
Praying for God's mercy and grace.

I awake again- from my trance
As the music fades
Determined, I stop right behind her
And as I dare to open my mouth...
A muscular dude snatches her from the side
Turning, she hugs him and they kiss.

I swallow hard!
Wanting to be him.
Unsure of what to do next, I sit by her
The bartender salutes me
"Coffee?"
"Nah" I mutter, as I stand to leave; feeling stupid.

I take one more look at her, probably my last
As she giggles lovingly
In the arms of another
Oblivious of my existence

My heart burns
As the DJ plays a familiar tune-
James Blunt's You are Beautiful
I leave the cafe
Sad as ever, as reality dawns
No use dreaming further
She's in love with another
She will never be mine
She's gone for life!

© Raphael Uzor

Every night...
Our prayers float towards heaven
Like a million bubbles in a wine glass
Ascending gradually through space
Culminating in the white cloud above
Eventually dissipating into thin air
Giving hopes of answered prayers
Amidst bubbles of faith and doubt
Against pulls of gravity and fears...*


© Raphael Uzor

With a smiling face
To mask her real intentions
I felt it behind!*


© Raphael Uzor

The rite of passage
From my boyhood to manhood
Killed my innocence.


© Raphael Uzor

Like a traveller without direction
A seeker with no sense of purpose
Walking through life aimlessly
Existing but not living
In an infinite maze of time and space
Shrouded in a mist of uncertainties
Darkness has become his light
Pain has become his plight
As he drifts endlessly into nothingness...*


© Raphael Uzor

Like a dreaded book
Covered in dust on my shelf
I'm yet to read you.*


© Raphael Uzor

His Sun of righteousness
Beams into my ***** secrets
Revealing rotten intentions
Orchestrated by self will and hatred

Leaving me ashamed of my filth,
Aware of my guilt,
Conscious of my void,
Convicted of my sin!*


© Raphael Uzor

He lets me get broke...
Just to make me richer
He lets me get weak...
Just to make me stronger
He lets me look foolish...
Just to express His wisdom.

He crushes mighty-warlord Goliaths
With a shepherd boy, a sling and a stone!
He frightens entire Syrian armies
With four lepers, no RPGs, no riffles!
He teaches kings "Humility For Dummies"
By making ***** out of Nebuchadnezzars.

I ponder some of the things He does
Terrible! But I find them amusing
And while I chuckle at His wondrous works
I'm reminded that He loves me dearly
And He added a touch of humor to the bible
To express His lovely smile on my unworthy face!*


© Raphael Uzor

Round tables      and cocktails
Cuisines and   Champagne
Candles and moonlight
Whispers and laughter
Tuxedos and dresses
Flowers and kisses
Jazz and piano
You and I*
•


© Raphael Uzor