Apocalypse
Pattering on roofs
Like defiant horse hoofs
The whirlwind;
Deafening thunderclaps
Dark night seared by
The brightest of lightning
Harbingers of the deluge
The heavens opened
Sheaths of rain, linking up with
Other sheaths ‘raining’ from underneath
Tarred streets turned to streams–
at the beginning–and gradually
Dry land turned to rivers
Bungalows submerged
Tall trees and six storey buildings
next in line.
Oceans, seas and rivers
Have merged,
Plants and animals submerged
Underneath the deluge,
where I battle for breath,
A waterproof Holy Book floats
And my mind races back to:
And God spake unto Noah…
Neither shall all flesh
be cut off any more
by the waters of a flood
——————
Chaos
A break away from my cocoon
Slimy paths; a tunnel of
Slime, blood n fluffy walls
Dragged out by,
Semi hard palms wrapped in white
Stinging cold air
I refused to cry.
Chaos
Society in confusion
Values undefined
Chasing diverse gods
Purpose unclear
Allah akbar here;
Halleluyah there
Unsure beings
Killing one another here
Tomorrow jettisoning beliefs there
Scenes I see prepare me for the future
Foisted hypocrisy prime point of nurture
Deranged beings, truces called
On hypocritical holy days
Tomorrow we resume…
Misguided folks,
Chasing alien gods
Whose ways nor languages
They truly do not understand
And the bloodshed and confusion
Tragically continue…
——————
Satan’s Plea
Misjudgment
Lucifer’s condemnation premature
His evil pales
In comparison to man’s
Murderers
Killers of kith and kin
Killers with nukes and words
Killers with pills and injections
And worse,
The insane murder of
The unwanted child
Carried in the womb for nine full months
Now;
Wrapped in plastic
Thrown into a trash can
The hope of a nation
Is asphyxiated
Dark hours, twilight days
Hell stutters, Lucifer enraged…
‘Father’, he prayed
‘Do let this cup pass over me
For I’m not worthy,
To be called Satan’
——————
—Nnaemeka Oruh
—Photo: Jon Sullivan