3 Poems By Esther Aderiyike Sokomba
Precious Dear Home
Home precious dear home
Not alone is being at home
Not the rules and not the faces
But the smiles and the peace
Even if the heart is not borne naked
You can tell who is the wicked
Need not lay on a royal feathery bed or
Be covered with a velvety fur blanket
A cup of hot tea from mama when you are cold
Papas pat on the back when you have a hold
Though making promises isn’t fulfilling them
Love is not a hidden factor at home
Suspicions may reduce the fraction you own
Yet words that are said may hurt
They don’t matter at home
The love we bear and share is all that matters
A bitter complain at home is sweeter than
A horrid ‘well-done’ from a stranger
No trying to impress mom or dad
They already know all that is bad
No working to earn a meal
You deserve all you need to heal
Home is where the heart finds comfort
Even when it all seems hot
Be as nasty as you can
All you’ll ever get is a spank
Time for lunch or time for dinner
Eat as much as you’ll ever
And days when temperature within gets too high
Bond of a brave brother clears the sky
The fight and struggle
Ends like a bubble
All that matter is you laughter
Pray my loved ones live forever
So we can share as we prosper
None like home
Home precious dear home
Home is where the heart smiles with hopes
The pensioner’s melancholy
Even when I have laboured for now
Do I have to savour at dawn?
We strived and toiled
Sailed through the wild Atlantic
I am a stage in this epic
Sweated and drained-out muscles
With the strength that was stern
My breadth may now seize
Yet a nation that seizes it
Planning for the rain is not perfect
To predict the yield is farfetched
Even if the mind is ageless
It is presumed old
Old but experienced
Old but not stupid
My kneels are weak now
Toilsome all through
My sight, failing
The Eagle wasn’t better
But planning the rain is
As bad as predicting the yield
No regrets for the past
For I won’t relent on my future
Time is the difference between now and then
Age is the difference between young and old
Even if I laboured in vain
I have harboured the pain
But never compromised
At least for that I deserve a pay rise
It’s late now because I am old now
Am suddenly uninteresting
Nobody is testing
We all deceive ourselves
It surely goes around
Time differentiate now and then
Mine a harbinger for yours
If I don’t deserve my benefits
Age spell it out aloud
Time is ticking and fast
Who is next?
To be born or to die
No line of demarcation
I still won’t compromise
This is the best phase in life
With fancied victory for life.
The Monster We Raised
We raised the giant that trails us
We made a monster with thorny furs
Blood means no more than water
Water in itself is a luxury
No longer bearing the name portable
People begging for a sip from the mud
Those who claimed they care for the masses
Whose wealth now made them better than us?
You sell your soul to mammon
Who leaves you with nothing but a stone for a heart?
Promised them a good life
Only to come to suck out the frail life
Yes we all dance to the tune
It was all originated from the lines we wrote
The one you composed yet you can’t master
You call woe on Europe for trading your brothers
Only for you on return to murder the ones thy free
Their death is your doom
For the monster we built trails us
Waiting to take on his master
Only with the space of time
And a heart of reparation can we escape it
Else we wait in cue in a queue
As the monster we built usurps its creator
Esther Aderiyike Sokomba is of Yoruba descent from Nigeria. She is in her mid-40s, originally a teacher and a mother. She has a couple of prose to her credit which include; “The Unknown Royals, Good to Be Good” and “School Boy Yebo”.
These poems are extracted from her collection of poetry works titled “The Battles We Won” and are due for publication soon.
She is currently undergoing further studies in Guidance and counselling. She appreciates art.