I am grateful gethsemane is not the gravesite of a salvation we could have had. That blood-like tears did not stop blood from flowing freely for fellows like me. I am grateful that sleepy friends could not hinder divine conversation and personal survival was bypassed to institute divine design.
I am grateful
– Ezeonyeka Godswill
(C) 2022
The garden reminds me of him
Bowed down, he bore weights too heavy before they ever landed. My Lord knew the battle was fierce to fight and he would not let me suffer. No, he would do the fighting. If this price had to be paid, then he would do the paying.
The garden reminds me of him
The Lord of glory had need for help. Every minute brought him closer and every gesture was a prayer. He that was everyone’s everything had no one’s nothing to journey with him. Alone he must go. A lone seed to be sown.
The garden reminds me of him
Before the curtain fell on sin’s final payment. Before ever a drop of blood hit the floor. Before stripes parted his skin and men killed the one that healed them. The garden bore witness to my Lord’s humanity. The garden bore witness to this man’s divinity.
The garden reminds me of him
Ezeonyeka Godswill
(C) 2022
Help!
I’m at my wisdom’s end
There are now fewer wisdoms found in my speeches
Words tend to rush out all messed up
Before I remember to clean them up
Making more troubles than giving solutions
Help! Father! I’m at my wisdom’s end
I’d rather your words take hold of my tongue
Help!
Gradually, I am forgetting me
How you see me
How you value me
Living a false life
Is quickly becoming my reality
I find myself lost in doubt
Forgetting you’ve placed me in certainty
Help! Father! I am forgetting me
I’d rather your thoughts about me fill my heart
Help!
I have lost my direction
I think back to be front
And when I try to move
I find out I’m still facing back
My compass isn’t as accurate as I thought it was
It’s broken
Help! Father!
I don’t know where I’m at
But I’m certain you will find me
I’d rather continue this journey with you
Help! Father!
’tis all I can mutter
I no longer have hold over the matter
Father, I know you can hear me
‘Help me!’ Is all I’ve got to say now
Yet, I feel comforted that you do understand
Even more that a thousand words could have explained.
Help! Father!
I really need you.
Pearlythoughtz
© 2022
A lot is cast
Many a times, wisdom proclaims
Life na tumbo tumbo
one way or another
The wheel spins to everyone’s direction
One or two a time
The sages said
“A good turn deserves another”
The owner of ages said
“Do good, even unto your enemies”
One way or another
The wheels spins to everyone’s direction
One or two a time
Games we played
Children in the streets
Home wasn’t far away
And the lessons out there
Didn’t make us fall short
We learnt to understand
The lot will one way or another
Fall on every player
The mix of pride and grief
When the wheel spins to one’s direction
One is the victor
Another the victim
Negotiating the future
To taste the sweetness of revenge
Or the pride of forgiveness
For when the lot is in favour
But before then, don’t tempt the gods
Your fears will betray you
And when the wheels spins
To one or two a time
Be sure to have The Lord as your lot
Pearlythoughtz
© 2022
There is no shame that taketh a man
But such that is common to man
In nakedness without shame
For his glory surrounds you
You see not my flaws or mistakes
Not because you know you’re naked too
But because he’s made me good
In you I see glory
In me you see glory
With faults and flaws here and there
Yes in this journey we may hurt or be hurt
But it’s no shame in nakedness
Because when I see you
And you see me
Its his glory that surrounds us.
There is therefore now no shame
To those who are in Christ Jesus
Who walk not after the things they see
But after his word
Which says
Fear not, though fearful things surround you
Be thou not confounded,
Though there are things you may not understand
Be not ashamed, though you’re naked and hurt
You’ll not be put to shame, for I am your glory
Breath in earthen clay
Words into void state
Light into dark days
Your Maker and Husband I Am!
Philipa Oraegbu
© 2022
They say justice respects no man
Yet he has gotten away with evil
They say the law is blind
Yet I see a criminal walking free
A shadow is cast in the bright sky
The day has turned into night
Twenty four hours reduced I must say
What a mystery it is to behold
The sun has refused to come out
Though another day already begun
The atmosphere, a palpable gloom
So intense for these miserable souls
His victim this time is still in cradle
What has she done, I want to ask
The mother seconds my thoughts
So many others too I must confess
But Like before, I saw him escape again
Leaving in his wake his misery
But when will justice be served?
To this murderer who seeks his next victim?
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Revelation 20:14
AJEGBOMOGUN OLUFUNKE
© 2022
Slowly, just like a breaking dawn
I move in the direction of my dreams
These mountains leave me only a frown
Give us your eyes, always their scream
I have no doubt failures will come
For such are unwanted friends of every worthy cause
All must be smooth- an expectation of some
Unrealistic it is, of course
So I welcome and endure the pain
Decorating my pathway of life
For I know no pain, no gain
My best friend hope I must keep alive
Whether I fail or not is not the matter
Losing my focus is what I must not allow
So preserve your vision, my sister and brother
For in time, it will make you glow
AJEGBOMOGUN OLUFUNKE
© 2022
I like people and how they change, It reminds me of home. Of how one person won’t make it to Christmas next year, and forever. How this might be the last time I’ll tell aunty Chinenye that she’s my favorite. That her hair is beautiful and her smile is radiant. That being the only person in the family with dimples must mean that she was special. That I’ll come for holidays when she got married. That I love her. Before I run away with the plate of corn and _úbé_ she roasted for me to show my mummy.
New people remind me of old people. Of the promises of forever that lasted till worth became what my worth was never. “See finish” is myopic. It assumes that who I met today is better than someone I’ve known for many years. Forgive me for being old fashioned but I believe that the years matter. If our bubble lasts a year, then we have beaten time and seasons that I’ll cherish again and again. Because while people change, you’ve changed and I’ve changed, but somehow we haven’t changed enough to no longer feel the other is less their worth. I have a habit of remembrance. Of beginnings.
I like taking strolls. A slow walk down memory lanes. I like seeing how first hello and hi morphed into not being able to do without. I like change. It has never scared me. That’s why I am never afraid of death. How people leave without a word’s notice. How they change. From being there to being mute. How someone who would kill if you shed a tear will lie there and sleep through your million wails. Tears changes people. Maybe the saline fluid washes a part of ourselves with it when it falls. When we clean it, we don’t just clean it. We erase something too. A trust, a love, a care, a joy, a part of us.
People change but I don’t blame them. I’ve heard people say the stories of their journeys. It’s why I want to make movies. So many untold stories. We judge too hastily for people with the ability to cry so much. And we hold grudges for people that fall short so much. I never got to visit aunty Chinenye because she never got married. Mummy will never see my wife, daddy too, with his funny mustache and remarks. Aunty Faustina will not make good on her threat to tell the woman that I’m stubborn on my wedding day. They all changed. Just like people do. They fell like flowers plucked from life’s petal, to wither on dusty earth. So go ahead dear, change all you want, I’m used to it.
Uc Truth
(C) 2022
Christ a poet 