Cabo Delgado Desperados

They had dreams of becoming doctors and teachers.
But after an armed attack on their town in northern
Mozambique, they now fear for what their future holds.
                                                 — unhcr.org

And then you climb the hill

One step trailing the previous stint,

Bludgeoned by an unforgiving wind,

Only to find on the plains

Of the fruits of faith,

A daunting, towering mountain.

The hill you climb

Are stuff that blind

You so it's hard to find

The mountains are in your mind.

Just forget the things left behind

And face the boulders on the inside,

They're the logs stuck in your eye

That make you grapple with a pie

And sway you from the mark

Of the prize.

You do not need a Mack

To move the sands of time,

If you see a ghost,

You'll dissolve like tissue in rain

And if you know the ropes,

You can fly a mountain.

A city on a hill

Got no uses for a smokescreen,

If you ain't out for a kill,

You got no uses for your skill.

The hill is meant to get you under,

Freeze you in your track

Like a snake named anaconda.

The hill you climb

Is key to unlock your mind

Keep on grinding your grind

And you'll breathe your dreams to life.

Akpan

Visual Cancer

Source: twinkl.co.uk

For all displaced persons. 

I see dead people

Still breathing but like pimple

On the face of the earth

Cause we erased principle.

Like living substance of death,

They are situational zombies.

We call ‘em refugees

They go ahead of us

Straddling our vain conceit

To report our bloodlust

How we downgrade human dignity

And upgrade hateful wars.

I see displaced persons

Burnt twigs snatched from the fire

Our yet-to-be-learned lessons

Feels like I’m preaching to the choir.

If this situation is critical

Response ought to be reciprocal.

Akpan

Bring Back Yesterday

Bring back yesterday

And with it dreams of better days;

Bring back that moment

When we almost had it all;

Bring back that treatment

Attesting men are capable of love;

Bring back one sweet day,

Make it shine thro our work and play.

Akpan

Zombie Heaven

If love should pass us by

I won’t blink an eye,

I won’t pretend to cry.

If hope should prove a lie,

I would feign a smile

And pretend to wonder why.

If good should run us down

I won’t make a sound,

And give a run around.

If hate should pull a crowd,

I won’t run my mouth,

My feeling won’t head down south.

If life should deal hard knocks

I won’t give a bad turn;

I won’t ask for potluck.

If courage should quit and die

I’ll just play my cards right

And I’ll return like for like.

Akpan