To a country
I do not know
what has become of this place—
Fractured / Moribund / Fatal /
Voices stifled / eyes sunken / wings severed /
Laughter, six feet / bodies, shelters for bullets / shadows, mangled /
Starvation, a silent promise of death / blood spills, the synonym for unity / hope, the metonym for pain and paralysis /
Faith morphed into futility / promises, bitter-stale-pale / like the sun hovering above, a portent of tragedy /
Homes broken into the alleys of oblivion / women and children, brutally silenced / abductions, a trade game /
Soil stained in red / soil barren by man’s greed / a lineage pulverized by fangs of disparity /
Here, we bleed and pledge in severity / here, waiting for death / here, waiting for nothingness.
Judge’s Comment
This poem deserves applause for brevity. The tragedy of a country and the hopelessness of its people are skillfully potrayed in few lines.
Favour Orlando
Favour Orlando is a Writer, a graduate of the Department of Microbiology from the University of Calabar, Nigeria. Some of her works have been published by the Shuzia magazine, Writers Space Africa, an international magazine, Tampered Press and elsewhere.