NGOZI OLIVIA OSUOHA - POEMS

​Ngozi Olivia Osuoha is a young Nigerian poet/ writer and a graduate of Estate Management. She has some experience in banking and broadcasting. She has published some works abroad in some foreign magazines in Ghana, Liberia, India and Canada, among others. She enjoys writing.

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​                  HOLD ON TO YOUR DREAMS

It shatters to lose a parent
It could kill a beautiful dream,
It kills to witness war
It could rend hope apart,
It tears to be raped
It could smash destiny,
It dwindles to be scandalized
It could crush reputation,
It discourages to be gossipped
It could fade respect,
But the future is a mystery
Everything is a teacher
Troubles advance our mentality
Challenges enlarge our strength,
Hold on to your dreams.

Heartbreaks and disappointments
Divorce and widowhood
Spinsterhood and singlehood
All and more, ache
But there is more to life,
A little bit of this
A little bit of that,
Joy and sorrow
Pain and peace,
Trauma and drama
Vices and victories
All, all elevate us
So hold on to your dreams.

Do not take your life
Suicide is not an option,
The heat of torments
The rage of trials
The height of temptations
The peak of evil
The climax of horror
The apex of terror,
All these shape our destiny
Hold on to your dreams.

We capture in adventure
We see in adversity
We grow in quest
We expand in jungle
Your dream must not die
Big or small, tiny or large
Soft or hard, short or long
Nurse it, nurture it
Feed it, grow it
Feature it, annonce it
Zoom it, let it boom.

​        OIL AND GAS; MAMA'S TWISTED FATE

Oil, the treasure that invited Jude
And made Mama crude,
The fortune that turned him rude
And tied Mama, nude
Oil, the wrath of blessing.

He is still around
And Mama bound
He gallivants sound
And Mama in wound,
Whatever he does pound
Mama the mortar on ground
Gas, the thick smoke she breathes.

Oil the scars on her body
The disease in her bone marrow
The thorn in her heart
Oil, her commotion and confusion
Gas, the thick smoke she breathes.

The blessings she did pray
The pain they always flare
The breakthrough she did hope
The barrier they do rope,
Oil, the prayer God answered
The skull they splintered
Gas, the supplication she made
The poison in her bread
Oil and Gas; MAMA'S TWISTED FATE

 
                                THE SACRAMENT


  In this our regiment
  We are the government,
  In this our settlement
  We go for enjoyment
  With equivalent judgement
  Shaped in engagement;
  Painted as achievement,
  Hence in disappointment
  We rage for upliftment,
  Racing toward retirement
  We grab more allotment
  But truly no entertainment
  Despite the ornament
  That remains the wonderment,
   We refrain from development
   Building on discouragement
   At the grave of encouragement,
  Which binds our empowerment
  As we crave for enhancement
  It yields only punishment
  Perhaps during refurbishment
  Beyond each establishment;
  We see madness and torment
  Then we steadily lament
  Yearning for amendment
  Praying for enrollment
  But that kills the moment,
  Darkens the firmament
  And captures our atonement
  Which blasphemes THE SACRAMENT

                                   VILLAGE POLITICS


 Bribery in royalty
 Greed in chieftaincy
 Deceit upon loyalty.

 Cowardice in red cap
 Ignorance in large map,
 Illiteracy widening the gap.

 The staff of injustice
 The sandals of atrocity,
 The belt of witchcraft.

 Foolishness loves the liquor
 Selfishness drinks to stupor
 Betrayal sells the tutor.

 Quarrels always fueled
 Fights frequently mailed
 Division broadly sealed.

 Gang up buying the poor
 Estrangement shutting the door
 Blood spilling on the floor.

 Blackmails openly booked
 Scandals well cooked,
 Rumours wisely hooked.

 Truth becomes the trap
 Trust remains a crap,
 Honesty, the lost lap.

 Diligence totally forgone
 Competence thoroughly undone,
 Negligence never gone.

 Bravery getting dumped
 Raped by slavery
 Fakery greatly crowned.

 Fairness turns the mourned
 Freedom already drowned
 Kindness never to be returned.

 Stupidity donates himself
 Anxiety chains herself,
 Integrity murders itself.

 The blind leading the seer
 The lame chasing the deer,
 The deaf training the trumpeter.

 Anger quakes the rooms
 Hatred glows and booms
 Revenge, everywhere looms.

 Boundaries everywhere
 Poisons, here and there
 Discrimination we all steer.

 Enmity, the watchword
 Discord, the dynasty
 Unity decamps our world.

 Agony behind the scar
 Harmony beyond the star,
 Matrimony buried deep far.

 Backbiting and slandering
 Defamation and propaganda,
 Hatred begeting hate.

 Village politics
 Sold like narcotics
 Enjoyed by lunatics.

​                          IF YOU SEE OJUKWU
 
  If you see Ojukwu
  Tell him, I never saw him
  But heard a lot he did,
  Tell him I see his pictures,
  That radiate determination
  His Afro hair and beard
  Typical of African masculine.
 
   If you see Ojukwu
  Tell him, I heard of the war
  Its horrors that still hover
  Its ghost that still haunts,
  Tell him, I see danger
  If you see Ojukwu
  Tell him, nothing changed.
 
  If you see Ojukwu
  Tell him, they still kill
  They still maim,
  They still marginalize
  Tell him, they still burn and bomb
  Tell him, the war is still on
  Tell him, they vanquished.
 
  If you see Ojukwu
  Tell him, tomorrow is uncertain
  Tell him we are deadlocked
  Heading to nowhere
  Ask him who do we blame,
  Fate, the gods, ancestors,
  Black or white?
 
  If you see Ojukwu
  Fail not to tell him these
  Please never hesitate
  Perhaps he will reincarnate a saviour,
  If you see Ojukwu
  Tell him living here is a war
  Dying here is a war too
 
 

                                 EN ROUTE
 


  Glued to their mat in the cave
  En route the swampy road, leaping like the toad
  They are saints that refuse to die
  And angels that detest heaven.
 
  Strand in babylon, a ruler
  Home relaxed, a woeful resident
  Peeping to know those asleep
  A boss tossing the cross on glass.
 
  Actors acting their scripts
  Covenanting to cover their coverteousness,
  Deceivers deceiving the deceivable
  Stage-managed promises and mockery.
 
  Mentals maiming those they should mentor
  Payers paid to play and entertain
  En route to watch and weigh
  To look and laugh at length.
 
  Running their mouths like comedians
  Drunk old wags wagging
  En route to see them one more time
  Upon my homeward way.
 
  En route to see tamed lions in the jungle
  And domesticated wolves,
  Most importantly, en route to search for the lambs headed
  toward their den
  En route to watch them do nonsense or nothing.
 
 
 
                       THE MARATHON OF WAR
 
  It is a deep mystery
  In the face of reality
  An intermediate thriller
  And overwhelming horror
  Too existential,
  With little or no suspense
  Burning the atoms of freedom
  Boiling the particles of peace
  Folding the mat of romance
  As we run the marathon of war.
 
  The fear from leadership
  And the doubts in the citizenry
  The farness of justice
  And the hardness of fairness,
  The deadness of equity
  And the newness of terrorism
  The depth of racism
  And the pride of hate
  All, not just a limerick
  For the pain underneath religion
  And the trauma behind politics
  All, a dagger of arrogance
  With the spear of ignorance
  Supporting the marathon of war.
 
  The titbits of deceit
  Under the carpet of rulership
  The cankerworm and caterpillar
  The swarm of locusts
  Eating up the freedom of peace
  Thrusting a romance of horror,
  Tilling a thrilling mystery
  A marathon of war
  A race of agony
  A world of destruction
  Winning, losing and losing, winning
  A war on humanity
  And humanity at war
  All, a marathon of war.