Poem #1279: They Can Only Imagine

“I imagine in Syria, there are rainbows.” — Ahmed
has learned everything he knows about
Syria from his grandmother.
Almost 2.7 million Syrian refugee children
have grown up outside their country. — UNHCR

They can only imagine

And reignite the imagined

With colored pencils

And desks as their easels

They can only imagine

What home used to be

And tell gutted stories

With a child's crayon

Simple yet vivid imagery

Like painted sad songs

Ballads in graffiti

They can only imagine

Places of exotic beauty

From folktales

Woven by granny

Of epic power fails

And from memory unseen

They create tomorrow redeemed

They can only imagine

A heavy burden

All of a sudden

Shoved on their shoulder

A baton tossed over

How they bear it further

Is yet to be seen

We can only imagine.

Akpan

Poem #1278: Women Of Ukraine

Some Ukrainian women chose to stay and
fight alongside their men for their homeland.
This verse celebrates their valor.
Photo Courtesy: Facebook/The Daily Show

The women of Ukraine
Are women of valor
They can make it rain
When men need a favor
For better or worse
They excel them all
They heed the clarion call
Not one of them balks
They deal in lead
Just like they baked bread
When home was still home
They'll defend
Their own
Against a beast
To the last drop
Of blood n' resist
In their labor of love
For home n' country
As for the love of family
The women of Ukraine
Don't fear pain
Nor seek fame
Like clouds of gray
They were born to reign.

Akpan

Poem #1277: Vindicta

Ukrainian refugee child: Russian shelling killed her mother.
Photo Courtesy: UNHCR

In what world
Does deliberate murderous
Waste of innocent blood
Amount to progress in war
That is the recourse
Of a coward
Making a show of
Moving forward
Resorting to medieval tactics
It's basic mathematics
Your approach is antique
Your style is erratic
Shelling a mother
Handicapping the
Orphaned daughter
Your war trophy
Is carved from the ruins
Of medical facilities
City streets strewn
With civilian casualties
Your war strategy
Is piling up fatalities
Diagrams of a tragedy
Of unharmed personalities
That girl deserved better
And she's the open letter
Of inevitable vendetta
This ain't over
Until you paid back
Every bloody quarter.

Akpan

Poem #1276: When You Pray

When you pray

The words you say

Are not in vain

He moves mountains

Believe

You receive

And you will

Have it

When you pray

Be stable in your ways

Set your words on a tray

Present it to the Throne

Of Grace

Your Father knows

His own

When you pray

Look into His face

And His glory display

In all His array

Reach out and claim

A portion of the same

The violent take

It by faith.

Akpan

Poem 1275: Suddenly Refugees

This lady and her two month old baby, Andrii have
been forced to flee and have to start a new life as
 refugees because of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Photo Courtesy: UNHCR

Suddenly
The sound of explosions
Pierced the still
And there was war
Suddenly
We were refugees
Struck by terror
Forced to flee
In the wake of blood,
Gore, my daughter
And me
We gathered some things
And fled we
Were suddenly
Refugees
Only yesterday
Our home was gay
Next to awake
In the still
To mayhem and shelling
Suddenly
We was on the run
Hauling Andrii
My newborn along
Knowing not
Where to go
But to just go
Suddenly
Reality hit us
Like the blinding
Corona of the sun 
On the beach,
We were refugees.

Akpan

Poem #1274: Of Your Dwelling

How lovely is Your dwelling place
I'll enter Your courts with praise
I will come just to see Your face
I will live for You all of my days.

Akpan

Poem #1273: That Name That Saves

I'm here to praise
That wonderful name
That richly saved
And absolutely erased
The weight of my shame.

Akpan 

Poem #1272: Commonsensikal

Putin bombed maternity hospital in Ukraine
with pregnant women and children still inside.
Photo Courtesy: Rush Hour/Facebook

Putin
Put in
Loads of bombs
To suck blood
Like a vampire
Vladimir
The modern day
Dracula
A total disgrace
Of a leader
Fear of America
Choked your jugular
And you retaliate
With lethal repercussions
You tossed a shoe nail
And you lost
The game
Built a military base
At the border
With Ukraine
You shoulda
Latvia
Estonia
Both joined NATO
And your react was zero
No offence
But common sense
Seems a little bit of luxury
For your specie.

Akpan

Poem #1271: Czar Bizarre

 

Photo Courtesy: UNHCR

Europe
Divided Africa
No bones
At a snap
Now they divided
On Ukraine
Undecided
On the stakes
While posterity
Takes notes
The inhumanity
Breaks a bone
Now we know
Why African leaders
Would go slow
At resolving matters
Their teachers
Taught them so
The first world war
The second also
Was all yours
Spawn in Europe
Ain't no bones
Get off the pot
Enough is enough
Give unto Czar
What is Czar's.

Akpan

Poem #1270: God Be Magnified

 

Russia's devastation of Ukraine
Photo Courtesy: Red Cross

Let all who seek You
Rejoice and be glad
In You
Let them be turned back
Who desire our hurt
Give all who love
Your salvation
A brave new song:
God be magnified
In the midst of war
Rush to deliver us
From those who lie
In wait for our lives
Pursue and overcome
Help us in a rush
Reward them with shame
And cause us
To escape
God be magnified
In our mortal life
We want to see
Your salvation
In the Land of the Living
You alone are God.
Akpan

Poem #1269: Battlecry

Photo Courtesy: newsweek.com

Let God arise

Let His enemies

Be scattered wide

Establish your will

Scatter the peoples

Who delight

In war like the ripples

Let all who hate

Peace flee

As before a plague

As wax melts before heat

As smoke driven away

By a hurricane

Let God

Our God

Make useless all

Weapons of war

To the fatherless

Be a Father

To the widow

A Defender

Comfort the home-

Less and be their Shelter

Let our God arise

In the power of His might.

Akpan

#1268: Never Again, Europe

Ukrainian children playing in the basement.
Photo Courtesy: UNICEF/Facebook

The Germans

Took Poland

And sparked

A world war

The Americans

Stalled an encore

And have taken Poland

Russia must be content

With Ukraine

Europe was silent

For Hitler

Again silent

With Russia

As they sack Ukraine

What happened

To 'Never Again?'

Who harkens

To save Ukraine

Just gon' stand by

And watch kids die

Europe's ideals

Are under siege

The entire continent

Faces heavy bombardment

Not from Russian bombs

The strength of your

Union is in the boiling pot

But history

Need not be relived

Confront the enemy

Make him feel the heat

Spit it to his face

Never Again!

Akpan

Poem #1267: The Divine Stand

Photo Courtesy: Facebook/New York Times

Jesus
Stand among us
In Your risen power
Make evil powers
Run for cover
Silence every gun
Speak but a word
And dispel the storm
Crush the haughty spirit
Tumble principalities
Remove the Prince of Russia
Break the gates of brass
Cut the bars
Of iron in sunder
Jesus
Stand among us
Wield a mighty weapon
And lead us into triumph
We declare war
A decisive 30-day onslaught
Shatter the forces
Of desolation
Release angelic forces
Disgrace the sons
Of darkness
Rebuke the merciless
Seize power
From the oppressor
Let Your mercy shower
In the 30-day war
Jesus
Stand among us
In Your Resurrection
Power
Lord, we give You this hour.

Akpan

Poem #1266: Sealed With A Kiss

Ukrainian refugee child
Photo Courtesy: UNICEF 

Russian diplomacy is

Bombs in a mail

Sealed with a kiss

And if blackmail

Falls thru

Then it's Dexter's laboratory

Where things go boom 💥

From war on a territory

A world war looms

This can't be arbitrary

With masters of doom and gloom

Faithful to leave a trail

Of blood and gore

In your wake

It's your signature

Mode of operation

Anything you want

You take

Never minding the cost

What would it take

To make y'all stop

Playing God

Oh I forgot

You don't believe in God.

Akpan

Poem #1265: Covid, Conflict, Children

Ukrainian child
Photo Courtesy: UNICEF

Russian diplomacy is
Bombs in a mail
Sealed with a kiss
And if blackmail
Falls thru
Then it's Dexter's laboratory
Where things go boom 💥
From war on a territory
A world war looms
This can't be arbitrary
With masters of doom and gloom
Faithful to leave a trail
Of blood and gore
In your wake
It's your signature
Mode of operation
Anything you want
You take
Never minding the cost
What would it take
To make y'all stop
Playing God
Oh I forgot
You don't believe in God.

Akpan

Poem #1264: One Point Five

In just 10 days of the conflict
Photo Courtesy: UNHCR

10 days

1.5 million people

News breaks

Raising follicles

Dread

Crawls all over my flesh

Like a million ants

I rinse my glass

As thirst like a blast

Burns my lungs

So lost for words

Where's the love

When it pours

Stone cold hate

Like golf ball-sized hail

Devil having a field day

Batting hail

Against our pain

Ukraine! To Ukraine!

Arise humanity

Defeat

Is not an option

Bond passion

To compassion

Squash this senseless war

Like a bug.

Akpan

Poem #1263: Good Neighbor

 

Over 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees have crossed
 their nation's border into neighboring states
in the past 10 days.
Photo Courtesy: UNICEF

Russia, Russia
Stephen Kingesque
Sisters of Eluria
Polishing grotesque
With finesse and mastery
And a flattering of treachery
Purporting to heal
And when healing's done
It's all about Kill Bill
Here's a masterclass
On the Danse Macabre
You animate the past
With millennial massacre
You go hard
On civilian quarters
Wreaking harm
Yielding no quarter
You've lent a new definition
To the phrases, 'Brother's Keeper'
And 'Good Neighbor.'

Akpan

#1262: From Russia Without Gloves

Ukrainian civilian apartments shelled by
Russian fighter jets.
Photo Courtesy: Facebook

Bear hugs

Come without gloves

And in a Russ-ia

With its mili-shia

Crowding borders

Like blood brothers

On a vendetta

A nation

That don't believe in God

Will combust

Like matchsticks on

Hot desert sod

Taking Ukraine

Inflicting grave pain

Rising from a revolution

From a monarchy

To lethal injection

Of anarchy

Into a democracy

Is this your proof of literacy

What happened to diplomacy

It's the 21st century

Playing judge, prosecution

And jury

It's your court

It's your call

Take a shot

At peace

If you please.

Akpan