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NGOZI OLIVIA OSUOHA - POEMS

12/19/2021

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NGOZI OLIVIA OSUOHA  is a Nigerian poet/writer/thinker. A graduate of Estate Management with experience in Banking and Broadcasting. She has featured in over seventy international anthologies and has also published over two hundred and sixty poems/pieces in over twenty five countries.

She has authored twenty three poetry books, and some of them are archived in the United States' Library of Congress.

Some of her poems have been translated into and published in Arabic, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Polish, Farsi, Khloe, Macedonian, and other languages.

She is also a tailor. Some of her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net awards.​

​MY GUARDIAN ANGEL

​True love from above
Flying like a dove
Divine wings 
Holy rings,
Spreading purity and trinity.

My real hero
Lifting me from zero
My pure strength
Guarding me at length.

Dependable and reliable
Capable and able,
Holding me down
Cleaning my gown.

My guardian angel
My golden apparel,
My Knight in shinning armour
My light in dark humour.

Lily in my valley
Family of my belly
My ally, my alloy, my envoy
Guiding me through the convoy.

Respectful, honest, decent
Godly, homely, humble
Lovely, lowly, my heart;
We can start any art.

​AFTER THE WAR

​Was it not yesterday that they struck
And got our corpses loaded in their truck
Dragged our lifeless bodies along valleys
And poured our wasted souls into gullies,
See them, parade in victory.

After the war, they never ceased
Rather they seized every opportunity to kill
Hear them till graves and shallow tombs
Annihilation, marginalization, extermination.

Soldiers, aids, uniforms in concord
A discourse and concourse
Envoy, convoy and voyage
Blood, flooding the carnage.

After the war, they held on
Horrors in pieces and bits
Terrors on nieces and kits
Watch, listen, hear them rage louder!

We rise, yes we do, the muse 
For the rising sun only sets with nature
Rains, clouds, nights and days
Dews, mist, moist, fog, they all gear.

Blood rise in wells
As they ring like bells
Calling forth for peace
Singing songs of love
Writing books of unity
Saying words of progress
Gathering dust of justice
Yet after the war, the pogroms return.

Genocides, homicides, afflictions
Hate, hate upon hate
War, war after war
Call a dog a bad name
And have it publicly beheaded for festival.

In memory of those killed during the Biafran war

COVID THE PANDEMIC

​Hellow covid the pandemic
You rose like a lion
To destroy our republic
But there is One, guarding Zion.

You soared and severed
Tearing and wearing apart
Even the most revered
Daunting and denting our hat
But there is One who for us had suffered.

Bye Covid, you were vivid
We saw you loud and clear
Bye Covid, you were stupid
We cannot love you like cupid.

Bye, go away, never return
Dwell in the innermost hell
Bye, in hell do burn
So in heaven we tell.

Get lost, get vanished
The vanquisher has ravaged your cell,
Bye Covid, the pandemic.

Covid, the pandemic
You were tragic,
And stole our comic.

You were hectic
And made us panic
Go away, and never return
Covid, the pandemic.


​THE RISE

​
We have to rise and shine
For we bear in us the light,
Light of the world.

We are light
The torch and the lamp bearer,
We share and care.

We rise, still we do
We have to, we need to
We breed light,
Let us light up the world.

Rise, rise the rise
Arise, shine, light, enlighten the dark world
Break the glass, shatter the ceiling
The glass ceiling, the wooden
Natural and manmade barriers.

Unconventional light shine, uncommon light glow 
Fears rock, doubts roll,
Stigmas row, dogmas crow

Discrimination rage, segregation cage
Cultures mesmerize, traditions massacre
Religion blind, hate banish
Racism bury, rape kill
Violence truncate, violation rule
Laws quench, hunger and thirst advance.
Rise, dear women! 

Step out, step up, step right
You are the rise
And the rising sun
Hope and beauty, glory and honour
Rise, shine your light!

Shatter the ceilings, all, all of them
Break the stereotypes, dance
Run the race, grace is enough
Brace up, fall in, fall out!

IN-LAWS

​Here is my piece for all
Concerning marriage,
No matter how blind your love
And how deep your feelings
Beware of where you go.

Culture, tradition, religion, tribe and race
Dreams, visions, beliefs, goals and passions
Ambitions, and aspirations, 
Understanding, care, and affection
All these make or mar unions.

Parallel people dare not bond
Opposite believers cannot merge
Infatuations and fantasies
Dreams, daydreams and realities
These raise alarms.

Pretence does not last
Lies flop along the line
Deceit does more harm
Charms fade with time,
Beware of demons in angelic robes.

Masquerades, wolves in sheep's clothing
Robbers in watchmen's apparel
Pedophiles as guardians
These ruin homes.

Cheating, infidelity, excessive rage
Violence, abuse, misunderstanding
Mistreatment, distrust, disrespect
Slavery, bondage, overdependence
Laziness, carelessness, and gossip
No home survives these hurdles.

There is always a boundary
Within, is acceptable
Without, is unbearable
Marriage is not for kids.

Sex, change of status
Having children and license to born
Flashy rings and costly jewels
Flamboyance and luxury
The makeup and makeover
They all glitter but are not gold.

Marriage is for mutual interests
Never is it for parasites,
Give peace and get it back
Sow love and reap same
Plant care and harvest so
Cultivate home and enjoy such,
A word is enough for the wise.

​THERE IS GOD

​I am afraid of life
Because it is a mystery
But I will make history.

I am afraid of friends
Because they are humans
But I will love them.

I am scared of tomorrow
Because it is unknown,
But I am hopeful.

I am troubled about the world
Because leaders are unfaithful,
And things change for worse
But there is God.

​FEAR

​Fear is a hole
It makes nothing whole.

Fear is a rocket
It scars the pocket.

Fear is a game
It can bring shame.

Fear is a price
It can come thrice.

Fear is a grass
It can burn the mass.

Fear is complex
It can tower to the apex
And cause a reflex.

LOVE

​Love is humble
It makes royal,
Love is marble
It remains loyal.

A game of heart
Drawing the art,
Linking the chart
Clearing the mart.

If you make it a gamble
It will crumble
And leave you in shamble.

If you make it a garden
It will harden
And grow vegetations.

Love is a platform
It can reform,
Killing the worm
And cankerworm.

HATE

​A day of hate
Destroys a destiny,
A time of rage
Kills a destination.

Hate is a ladder
It gets one madder,
Hate never makes gladder
And it pops up the bladder.

Hate strangles dreams
And embitters streams,
Hate buries hope
And murders the scope.

Hate is an enemy
It smokes like the chimney,
And hits the kidney.

Hate is a cage
It does much damage,
And leaves many in bondage
Throwing others into the drainage.

Beware of love
Be kind, do not hate
Then you will not fear
Because there is God.

MY COUNTRY

​Come, cry for me
For I am troubled, so troubled
Come, cry with me
For I am in pain, so pained,
Painted, fainted, a dirty painting
A fainting that is draining me.

My country burns, burning in flames
My homeland mourns, mourning in shame
My fatherland is quaking
Quaking loud and aloud
Shaking the cloud and crowd.

Pray for me please, please I pray thee
My land bleeds in greed
Lives waste in hundreds
Tears overflow daily
Fears gather amidst
Nothing, nobody is safe,
Please pray for me, my people, and my country.

IN THE WINGS OF VIOLENCE

​Hear the wind rage
See the rain raging
The thunder strikes 
Lightning gives horror
My people are swept over.

In the wings of violence
My land encroaches to war
Fighting, killing, maiming, raping
Hear war sing freely to us.

In the wings of violence
I hear innocence moan,
In the wings of terror
I see generations groan
Look deep and yonder
Leadership is terrorism.

Religion has beheaded us
Politics has bewitched us
Hatred, falsehood, fallacy, dogmatism
Hey! I fear now and tomorrow!

​COLD WAR

​We are at war
We are barely alive
They pounce on us raw
We are halfway dead.

A cold war so loud
The world is busy
So busy that we are insignificant.

The world is on
On, ongoing with activities
The world is on its wings
As we oscillate on swings.

Leadership is no more fair
Friendship is now a nightmare
Partnership is cruelty
Relationship is wickedness,
The world looks the other way,
As we dive and plunge into the abyss
Head on collision with death.

A cold war, within and without
Gold, hold, sold, fold, told and untold.
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