Trying To Survive The Night

Courtesy: UNHCR

Don't wanna know how the sun

Travels round the moon.

And seriously speaking, I'm not

In the complicated mood

For a geography of tall stories.

I'm bringing my theory

Down to earth,

To us grounded in a hearth.

I'm all about the chemistry

Of self-annihilation

I'm up for a study in human tragedy

On which the race of man is sprung.

Bring out all the bombs

Throw some Uzi in the lineup,

It's the school of hard knocks.

Love don't live here.

This is where gore rocks,

Where pregnant women flee for fear.

Here it's ok to kidnap girls for ransome,

To hold school boys hostage

Even if it's just to prove a point.

Hope we still on the same page?

In point of fact, why not lose the book,

We all know these things get cooked?

Let's do this by word of mouth,

Why the river of humanity flows south.

We slot peace in the ballot box

And then harvest absolute bollocks.

It's trend of the time

And we blend 'n grime,

Now here's something we gatto do

This depends on me as you;

Shoot your hands in the sky

If you've seen enough people die. 

Akpan

Long Story Short

Courtesy: UNHCR

After all has been said and done

Like phantom tears from the heart of the sun,

The lust for war gives rise to refugees

Passion for bloodshed sprouts displaced persons.

After all that's said is the bomb

That empties Tigray into Sudan,

Then the slugs of a gun is enough

To send Shona scurrying to Kenya.

All that's said

And all that's done

Wakes the walking dead

And evokes a world undone;

People absolved of all feeling

Eat the heart of the living.

We bleed when they feel the need

To redeem the essence of their greed. 

Akpan