DETERMINED TO DREAM

Last night,

Unlike every other night

When men were fast asleep

I lay in bed awaken

Thinking, sighing and staring

I watched the clock, ticking

Heard its sound, clicking

A rat in the kitchen, running

All I wanted was a dream

But how...

With eyes and brain awaken

Would I get a chance to dream?

It was 12:18am last time I checked

Now the time is 5:34am, still counting

The road is coming back to live

I can tell...

Sound from car engines, zooming

Voices from the neighborhood, echoing

Yes, I know...

Some are still in bed, slumbering

I am in mine too, but still expecting

And endlessly waiting...

Thinking, sighing and staring at nothing

Wishing, that I can start dreaming

I'll be grateful for an hour or two

I just want a picture of my own dream

So I can rise like the morning sun

Full of life, vigor and strength

Empowered to live out my dreams

To turn imaginations to realities

Problems to possibilities.

Here in my bed, I'll stay unrelenting

Expecting, praying and waiting...

Until the Angel brings my portion

Either a dream, a vision or revelation.

Written & Authored by:
Ebenezer O. Akinrinade (CYFI Fellow)

|Social Worker | Poet | Editor | Social Media Strategist | Youth & Child Advocate

+2348027701092
gent2poetry@gmail.com
ebenezer.akinrinade@gmail.com
FB: Ebenezer OlaSunkanmi Akinrinade
Twitter: @gent2smile

Copyright © 2014.

No part of this article should be edited without the written permission of the author. You are only allowed to share and/or rebroadcast the article as it is. Thank you!

SALT ON AN OPEN WOUND? (by Abiodun Fijabi)

We buried the young men and women - 19 or so of them, 3 of them pregnant with children.

Their mistake was that they trusted the system. They had no reason to. They should have realized that an average politician thinks first of himself and last of himself. They should have suspected that the jobs had been shared, long before they became vacant. They should have known that the dogs and the cats of the elite would receive better protection and better attention than jobless graduates. But can you blame them?

Hope is one anchor that keeps us going. Once hope is gone, we are gone. The hundreds of thousands that thronged the stadia and sports centers had held unto hope. May be, Comrade Moro is different. May be, due process will be followed this time. May be, they will protect us and treat of us with some civility this time around. After all, as the Bible says, 'hope does not make ashamed'.

The death of the 19 is the death of hope. We did not only bury the young and agile men and women, we buried the hopes they cherished and the dreams they carried. We murdered them in their prime, cut off their flowers in their blossom, and ended their life's journey in the night before the dawn.

And now, we tell their families, "Give us three job applicants per family. Your slain children have purchased three places in the juicy Nigeria Immigration Service."
What if one family had lost its only child - the only hope of a better future?
What if, no one in the family is qualified for the job? Will we lower the standards? Or, persuade the families concerned to sell their slots to the highest bidders, as some form of compensation?

Meanwhile, no head has rolled. No one has been sanctioned. No one is talking about refunding the applicants' fees.
Even if we all agree that the government's offer is better than nothing, would the families be right to hope again? Should they trust the system, with all of its insensitivity and corruption, to deliver on its promises? Or, would it be another salt on the already open and sore wound?

O God, why can't I easily get these deaths off my mind?

Written by:
Abiodun Fijabi
(culled from FB post: "Salt On Open Wound")

The Cost of Happiness

If happiness is a thing money can buy,
Only the rich will have a cause to smile.

If happiness were sold for a price,
Maybe all I'ld have is sorrow and frown.

If happiness were a seed sown on one man's land,
Of course, many would have been starved to death by now

But happiness is a gift bestowed on me from above,
Like the rain, sunshine and the breath I breathe.

Happiness is a miracle that begins with a giggle, a smile, or a laughter
It ignites my soul, lightens my heart and brightens my face.

Happiness is a seed I have found aplenty in me,
It has grown wider than the oaks and higher than the palms.

This happy tree has more fruit than I alone can eat
Little wonder I share joy, love, and smiles with every passersby.

Happiness has taken hold of me.
And I am happiness personified.

*******
Happy #InternationalDayOfHappiness
*******

Written & Authored by:
Ebenezer O. Akinrinade (CYFI Fellow)

|Social Worker | Poet | Editor | Social Media Strategist |
+2348027701092

Facebook: Ebenezer OlaSunkanmi Akinrinade
Twitter: @gent2smile

Copyright © 2014.

No part of this article should be edited without the written permission of the author. You are only allowed to share and/or rebroadcast the article as it is. Thank you!

GIVE ME SOME RAIN

GIVE ME SOME RAIN

"I once hated heavy rains and scorhing sun.
Unaware of the pains of those who had never felt the rain nor seen the sun.

Now am thankful for the rain when it falls.
I jump in it and chase the wind like a little child free-spirited.

Now am thankful for the sun when it shines.
It brightens up my face  with a smile that inspires every passersby."

Written & Authored by:
Ebenezer O. Akinrinade (CYFI Fellow)

|Social Worker | Poet | Editor | Social Media Strategist |

Follow @gent2smile on twitter

Copyright © 2014.

No part of this article should be edited without the written permission of the author. You are only allowed to share and/or rebroadcast the article as it is. Thank you!