HOPE
HOPE
We are the last ones left
Left behind in the hail of dark dusts
Raised by the dying souls of our fathers
As they hastened into the trenches and
By and by unto their premature ends
Our mothers have lost us
They bathed us in hot tears
The tears they shed for our fathers
And left us to dry in the sun
Now they have all gone, gone
Gone to the village market, never to return
We heard, the enemies overtook them
They sucked dry their breast-milk
And left them to die in the market square
We are the last ones left
Our mothers lost us
Ere they taught us to sing to the gods
Who will teach us to blow the Oja
Who will teach us to beat the Udu
We are the last ones left
Left behind in these hails of dark dusts
Of echoes of gunshots and bombs
Of fractured dreams and limbs
Of hungered scalps and malarious stomachs
We are the last ones left
We are the children of hope
We shall dry our tears today
We shall repair our dreams
As the sun rises
We will hope.
Diipo Fagbolu 2014
I titled this poem "Hope" cos it is based on this painting "Hope" by Augustina Chinelo Obi.
We are the last ones left
Left behind in the hail of dark dusts
Raised by the dying souls of our fathers
As they hastened into the trenches and
By and by unto their premature ends
Our mothers have lost us
They bathed us in hot tears
The tears they shed for our fathers
And left us to dry in the sun
Now they have all gone, gone
Gone to the village market, never to return
We heard, the enemies overtook them
They sucked dry their breast-milk
And left them to die in the market square
We are the last ones left
Our mothers lost us
Ere they taught us to sing to the gods
Who will teach us to blow the Oja
Who will teach us to beat the Udu
We are the last ones left
Left behind in these hails of dark dusts
Of echoes of gunshots and bombs
Of fractured dreams and limbs
Of hungered scalps and malarious stomachs
We are the last ones left
We are the children of hope
We shall dry our tears today
We shall repair our dreams
As the sun rises
We will hope.
Diipo Fagbolu 2014
I titled this poem "Hope" cos it is based on this painting "Hope" by Augustina Chinelo Obi.
Hello Diipo -
ReplyDeleteA very strong piece. Thank you for posting. There's a lot of phrases and images that stick such as: "hail of dark dusts", "our hungered scalps". There's far more darkness than hope in the piece, but perhaps it's this very contrast, the very extremity, that allows hope to rise.