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Best Poems Written by Uchenna Egeonu

Below are the all-time best Uchenna Egeonu poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Uchenna Egeonu Poem

Dialogue

"Great Sculptor!
In your presence I am,
With my forehead
Touching the ground.
I am here
With entreaties
You alone can bear."
"Pour them at my feet.
But do not forget
It's ripe corns only
That I hang on my eaves."
"My legs, Great Sculptor,
They are sturdy.
But also bandy they are.
It is my wish
You touch them
And make them comely
Like a pretty damsel's."
"Ask from your neighbour
Whose buttocks
Calloused by friction
Take him without grudging
To wherever he goes."
"My eyes, Great Sculptor
Cannot see through the wall.
What if, Great Sculptor,
You create them anew?
Make the lashes fluffy
Like newly hatched chicks."
"See that man
Behind the walking stick.
Darkness and pitch darkness
Are all he sees.
Then ask the serpent
Where he got his fluffy eyelashes."
"Now about my voice,
Good in oratory only.
Would you Great Sculptor
Make it melodious too?
Sweeter than the nightingale's."
"Look!
Behind your proud back.
Tell me what you see."
"A man gesticulating
With his hands and head.
He cannot utter
Even a single word,
For his vocal chords, no doubt
Can only produce silence."
"You answered well.
When a dog thinks
He does not run fast,
Let him watch the snail
And the pregnant tortoise
Compete in a race."
"But my Lord,
Would it be wrong
If you give me wings?
I will perch on a peak.
I will see those
Who defile the air
And fracture their arms,
Then gently hurl 
A handful of dew
On withering crops."
"The pompous bush rat
Wanting to be seen by all,
Stood on an anthill
And was devoured
By a colony of termites.
Craning your neck
To see the crown
Of the giraffe's head
Will only break your neck.
So let the water
Your mouth can hold
Quench your thirst."
"Finally my Lord
Answer me this:
Why does a leper
Want an embrace
If you allow him
A handshake?"
"You are the child
Stroking a bird's beak
And still asks the father,
"From where does a bird eat?"
Answer your own question
For you are much worse
Than a leper.
Why should a monkey ask
Why the squirrel
Disturbs the tree
When at play?"
"Forgive me Lord.
I will let the water
My mouth can hold
Quench my thirst."

Details | Uchenna Egeonu Poem

Nostalgia

When the snow falls,
Stabbing my heart with cold,
I long for my mother's hearth
That shielded us from the harmattan.
I perceive the aroma of burning logs
And the golden flame that cooked our food,
I inhale the redolence
Of clay pots sitting on the fire.
I feel the smoothness of cold ash
On our soles and hairless skin,
I hear my mother calling us
For a bath warm and soothing.

When night comes with a labyrinth of bulbs
And the hubbub of casinos,
I remember my humble home
Where night and day respect their boundaries.
I see the moon smiling from above,
Her radiant face illuminating the village square,
Where we listened to the exploits of the wise tortoise 
From the croaking voice of my grandmother.

When they tell me I am a stranger,
I remember my father’s vast kingdom.
An aura of respect surround me
As I walk through the bush path
With the wild paying homage to me.

When shall I shed this coat of fur
For the warmth of mother's hearth?
When shall I hear from my hut
The heartbeat of an undiluted night?
When shall I water the mound
Where my afterbirth was interred?
When shall I roast cocoyam
On the smoldering ash of the oil bean wood

How I long to cross this ocean
To chew a lobe of my father’s kolanut.

Details | Uchenna Egeonu Poem

Prayer of the Broken-Hearted

Father, where are you?
Please give ear to my plea.
Those I started the race with have gone far,
And I am left far behind.
For my legs have grown feeble,
Too feeble to carry my weight,
That I fall with each stride.
Going forward is a great ordeal,
Going backward a stigma of cowardice.
Did I desecrate your consecrated ground?
Did I cause the treachery of man?
Or are my teeth set on edge
Because of unripe fruit eaten by others?
My heart is always bleeding
From pangs of sorrow and pain.
My eyelids are heavy
From an ocean of tears.
Each night, ghosts torment me
In the day, phantoms ridicule me.
When the wind blows,
Needles caress my skin.
When the birds sing,
It is dirges I hear.
I wanted to find succor
By taking the course of Judas
When he realized his greed for silver
Had caused the shedding of sinless blood
But I abhor the ignominy of self annihilation.
Please, the Benevolent One,
Deliver me from this abyss of despair
For in my own mortal imagination
I have done no wrong.
But if You say I am not guiltless,
Forgive and lift me up.

Details | Uchenna Egeonu Poem

Blaze of Glory

(for Sally)
Sally, swarthy mare of a serene plain
Clad in habiliments of nubile grace
Whose name is the opium
That soothes the tremor of restive hearts.
Like the full moon that adorns the night,
Whose brilliance brightens gloomy spots,
Her probity, constant and unceasing
Is a blaze of untainted glory.
Sally, whose rhetorics dripping like wild honey
Is a basketful of beatitudes
That wraps the souls of mortals
In veils of hope and faith.
The winds shout her name,
The trees bow in reverence,
The birds whisper it in their songs
And echo its beauty to the green hills!

Details | Uchenna Egeonu Poem

We Shall Still See At Dawn

When the sun sets on me
While my work is still not done
And my songs flee from me
When it is not yet dawn,
You may cry but let me be
For we shall still see at dawn.
Even though you search for my laughter
From the shadows of our past
Or long for words I did utter
Before death's bugle blast,
You may cry but let me be
For we shall still see at dawn.

Details | Uchenna Egeonu Poem

Lip Service

The sun blazed like a hearth
Upon the helpless earth
As I strutted from the stream,
My calabash filled to the brim.
I saw him lose his footing,
He fell and hurt his shin
But he fixed his gaze on me,
Cleared his throat and spoke to me:
“Please, a mouthful brother
To quench this raging thirst,
I am sorry this is a bother
But give me a mouthful first”
“Your timing is wrong, brother
Because I am late to church.
Please endure your thirst
Till I return from the church”.

In the church I sang
Until my voice grew hoarse,
I knelt in the pew and prayed
For the good of all my neighbours.

I opened my eyes
And saw the funeral procession.
“A mouthful would have saved him”,
I heard the mourners say.
“May his soul rest in peace”,
I replied and wept.

Details | Uchenna Egeonu Poem

Daybreak

(To Armstrong)
Remember those days when mists of uncertainty
Shrouded our timid hearts.
We never left the hearthstead,
The fire of which burned from our silent prayers
And our hopes blossomed into a fortress
That brimmed with ripples of success.
Remember the tears we shed together,
Tears that soaked the soil
For our footprints to be visible.
The thunder barked in fury,
Who did not rear with foreboding?
But we did not cower
Because hope had a home in our hearts.
It stood like a citadel held by loyal rocks.
Malevolent winds snarling with spite
And bloated with hate,
We kicked with sturdy feet
That sparkled with crystals of confidence.

But the storms have invaded our yearnings.
Now our path has become slippery
From the mire of battered expectations.
Brutal hands of fate have uprooted our dreams
Leaving them on the roadside to wither.
Our hope has become a crushed reed
Being trampled to a sad death.
Our hearts have grown cold-
Their mirth stolen by the sobbing moon
Clad in garbs of mourning.

But I see beyond this bleakness
A day coming with kerchiefs of comfort
To clean our tears.
I see that day when our withering dreams 
Shall drink life to the full
And blossom like daffodils drenched in dew.
The day shall break
When our tearful hearts
Shall have the taste of happy songs.
The moon shall discard her sackcloth
For flowing gowns of glee
And sing a joyful chorus.
That day shall break!

Details | Uchenna Egeonu Poem

Entreaty

Amid the hisses and rattles
Of shameless emissaries of rift,
The nagging voice of virtue proclaims:
“Quench this conflagration!
Why set the house ablaze
To smite a thieving rat?
For when dogs pull down their shelter
Over a piece of dry bone,
They make themselves victim
Of the midnight downpour”

Let the flame of peace
Light up our hearts darkened by hate.
Let the sounds from drums of peace
Drown the hissing of our hate.
The thick wall of distrust
Which had blurred the light of brotherliness
Will be razed by our mutual smiles.
Then our sons shall learn
To eat from the same pot.

Details | Uchenna Egeonu Poem

This Journey We All Make

This journey we all make
Through this winding path
Scorched by the sun's anger.
It scalds our bare feet
Already torn by thorns.
The rains make it slippery,
We fall and bruise our knees.
Like wool drifting in the wind,
We are tossed about
Until we reach the great sea
Where the dying flames of our torch
Are finally extinguished.
While the lonely buds
Manured by our eternal silence
Become the memorials
Of this solemn journey.

Details | Uchenna Egeonu Poem

Love Story

Dusk sings a lullaby-
I lie in the arms of sleep.
Then I begin a voyage
In search of her who cradles my love.
I tread a luxuriant meadow
Across a placid waterfall,
The lovesong of a lonely bird
Echoes my pristine longing.
Then I see her!
She is clad in splendour,
Dainty lips sing her praises,
Her fragrance caresses my nostrils,
The root of my heart is tickled.
She sings a serenade
That soothes the longing of my soul
Till the echoes of dawn
Snatch me from the arms of sleep.