Best Superintend Poems
Sunday is a day distinct from any other.
It is burnished with boyhood scenes
Of home, silverware, and Mother.
They often superintend my dreams.
Mother got us ready for meeting,
Scrubbed to shine the night before.
None of us was worthy of greeting
Unless godly clean at the chapel door.
The day yet fosters a feeling unique.
I felt it even as an unlearned lad.
It gave me pause, it turned me meek.
It made me grateful for what I had.
Every Sunday morning without fail
And throughout the Sabbath hours.
The feeling reaches through the veil
Lifting me with Christ-borne powers.
I didn’t see Alhaji Sule, the big contractor
Though he is a sponsor with a huge stake in government.
I didn’t see Chief Ade the financial banker
Though he is well-versed on political palavers.
I didn’t see Mazi Eze the business mogul
He’s engrossed in his profits of sales and remains apolitical.
I didn’t see Sir Osahon the civil servant
I wonder, but guess he knows he’ll always have his pay.
I’ve hardly seen his Excellency, not any of his children
But I can see all his servants and some of his relatives.
I see market women, okada riders, menial labourers
Poor farmers, job seekers and beggars, superintend by
Ad-hoc staffs, police, army, party agents, observers
Thugs, cultists, pickpockets and party chiefs, all…
All under the biting sun from sunrise to sunset.
From the tussling crowd I hear and see unending
Wails of distress, curses, cracking of limbs and crimson
Muffled by fugacious shouts of political victories
When from behind the curtain five dollars less swaps for a vote.
Stale politicians and their eating party chiefs preside over
The poverty, ignorance and despair of the masses who shall
Again be left in the cyclic vortexes of socio-economic woes.
In the coming years, they’ll, in public, keep licking their wounds
While the politicians, in private, will have and eat their cakes!
It feels great among nice people
we smile, eat, smile
we shine on our way down the horizons,
two stars, blessed by the rest
to superintend flocks of the sky
from afar, we dim lights
do you see that soft amber?
that's how far we have come.
that twinkle, our smile
In the beauty of tomorrow, we will
gather base note petals for her crown,
and sing a song whose melody
will be clad in strength only...
and a single, silent teardrop