A PINCH OF LOVE By  Nwabueze Angela Jidechukwu

 

I’m a child trained in the desert,

For decades,

Seeing only one face but hearing two voices;

That of my trainer

And those of you who could write in your books.

I visited the human world once in a while

Guarded with sticks to see no other face or

Hear other voices except through books.

 

I enjoyed the dust of the desert,

That left my mind untouched.

I saw the world clearly in the desert

Through the only window I could see.

 

But the stick broke when time ended

And mosquitoes drank the blood of my sanity.

Desert walls fell apart,

And I saw lizards all over the world.

And this is my story:

 

Life in the desert and life in the unchained

Walls of the varsity.

Girls are mad and boys are unchanged.

My window painted faint images and

I wore a thicker eye lenses to see clearly.

For four years,

I wobbled my steps with a budding love as my light

Until I slip off the walls and

Fell in a no man’s land of humans and animals.

 

I trekked for months in service to this land,

Searching for a friend or a sister.

Doors were locked,

Neither of, came around,

And heavens winked at me like a graduate in search of work

Under the sun and found none.

 

Hope never despaired,

And my love still looked out,

My heart was still large enough to the world

That seems never to care,

About my dreams or my pains;

A world with friends that stabs your back.

 

But someone came,

Not a sister but a friend.

She saw through me,

She fought my battles,

And became the family I prayed to find in a foreign land.

The desert wind visited

And blew her away,

For a crime she never committed.

I felt the earth quake and the ocean still.

In my desolation,

I heard the roaring voices of the angry trees

Dancing to the rhythm of the howling wind,

Speaking of the ruins her tears will cause the conspirators.

 

Her tears that caused oasis to form in the desert

In wish I felt drawn

Like the architect that designed her ruins,

The pieces of my broken mind,

Orders me back to the desert

That I am a bringer of iniquity.

 

I gave her I knew a pinch of love,

But those with power designs our life,

In a free world, you are not free to live freely,

Uniqueness is a crime,

You must follow the dancing steps of the crowd,

Not how you feel,

The world is inhabited by sheep

Who must live not their own lives,

Those who go outside the margin

To live their own lives are outcasts and outlaws

And must be denigrated.

 

The world outside the desert

Failed to understand and and see humanity,

As the God they do not see

Exuberant Sunday church wears

Have replaced the gospel of love.

 

I am going back to the desert

To restart time

And wake up the broken stick

But hear this,

Respect for people’s view is pretty,

Understanding the uniqueness of each person is handsome,

Bearing in mind that true happiness comes from

Edifying humanity is beautiful

And lives can be saved by a pinch of love.

 

– Nwabueze Angela Jidechukwu

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