Help us

I wrote this  a while back,found it recently while going through some old notes.I decided to share,i cant even remember why i wrote it,but i hope you can appreciate it.

Why the pain?

Why the hurt?

Why the betrayal?

Why the death?

Why do we suffer?

So many questions

Hopelessness

We need answers

What can we we do?

Show us the way ?

Who listens to us?

Help is seems so far away,

Hopelessness

We need you,

Can you hear us?

Help us.

 

Poetry: Once Upon a Time

This is a poem by legendary Nigerian Poet, Gabriel Okara. He is one of Africa’s most renowned and established voices of the 20th century.Like i said in my profile,i love to share everything i find fascinating here on my blog,so i want to share a poem i read with you guys. Some of you may not be able to understand and thus not relate to it, and some of you can relate . All in all i just want you guys to enjoy it. The poem expresses concern for the influence of the Western world on the  African custom,however that wasn’t what i got from reading the poem .

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, son,
they used to laugh with their hearts
and laugh with their eyes:
but now they only laugh with their teeth,
while their ice-block-cold eyes
search behind my shadow.

There was a time indeed
they used to shake hands with their hearts:
but that’s gone, son.
Now they shake hands without hearts
while their left hands search
my empty pockets.

‘Feel at home!’ ‘Come again’:
they say, and when I come
again and feel
at home, once, twice,
there will be no thrice-
for then I find doors shut on me.

So I have learned many things, son.
I have learned to wear many faces
like dresses – homeface,
officeface, streetface, hostface,
cocktailface, with all their conforming smiles
like a fixed portrait smile.

And I have learned too
to laugh with only my teeth
and shake hands without my heart.
I have also learned to say,’Goodbye’,
when I mean ‘Good-riddance’:
to say ‘Glad to meet you’,
without being glad; and to say ‘It’s been
nice talking to you’, after being bored.

But believe me, son.
I want to be what I used to be
when I was like you. I want
to unlearn all these muting things.
Most of all, I want to relearn
how to laugh, for my laugh in the mirror
shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare fangs!

So show me, son,
how to laugh; show me how
I used to laugh and smile
once upon a time when I was like you.

Gabriel Okara