To the uncelebrated soldiers

(in memorial of soldiers who fought for peace)

Men of war-
Who bore this gallant blood.
Brave and bold as ore,
Sacrificed to cleanse the world-
Of hatred and oppression.

To those brave men
Who slept in the cold arms of the valley
And made friends in the forest’s den,
Feeding on water and barley-
As their souls rise and drop-
Like a withered crop.

Men who went in peace
Combing the deserts of the north
Cracking and crumbling all evil’s fort.
The brutal civil war in Nigeria,
The dastardly genocide in Rwanda-
Come to halt with your passion and palpitation.

Men of steel
Stirring this wheel
Of freedom, from Freetown
To the deserts of Sudan.
This day brings forth your crown
As we envy your courage as a man.

Men who journeyed
Among the eerie sounds of grenade
And the spits of bullet-
That made the cracked and the damaged
And this weary gauntlet
That made you prisoners with a grade
And not a shameless renegade.

We know you
As you lie still
As an uncelebrated soldier
Just to show a true son-
Of the land you are.
Let this be your epitaph-
That; here lies a gallant soldier
Who risked and died for a cause.

copyright lekezeal 2009

Dear Israel and Gaza

I thought the world would wake-
To laugh and munch another year’s cake.
I thought it would be the sound of fire arms-
Which kids chase themselves with without harms.

But the cry of a mother-
With a blood stained child on her arms,
And a father in the rubbles of his shattered home,
As mortar of birds hover around the cities of Gaza and Israel.
Let the world hear, another year and another fear,
Is what we have bathed ourselves in.

Man! Oh men of the world.
It’s too early to settle scores with swords.
This blood bath, this trauma-
Will bring the human race nothing but doom.
Why leave scars of hatred on our kins- to carry about on their skins?

Is this a contest of the most powerful?
I can hear the clicking of guns and not glasses-
And men making a toast to crime.
I can’t see wine or water,
But stream of blood and brutality.
When will we sit and tell tales of glamour
And not stories of our follies and woes?


Bulls no longer graze the farmlands
Armored tanks have taken up their place.
No more farmers to cultivate the crops
But soldiers of war trimming and killing
As every pieces drop-too scared to look death in the face.

“We will kill them back when we grow”
Innocent children vow to avenge every wrong-
And make them reap every seed they sow,
Those who maimed their friends and fathers.

Fire in the air!
Sound of death everywhere
On houses, on mosques and hospital
Rains of bomb too horrid and suicidal.
Across the meadows, and the once peaceful valley
Is no more a safe haven, but a dreadful alley.
Souls are falling, soles are bleeding.
Still the world looks on.
Spirits are rising
Far from earth a brother is gone-never to return.

Dear Gaza and Israel
Let your children sleep and snore.
This gospel of callousness they want no more.
This atrocity will bring no laurel,
But thorns of discord and disdain.

copyright lekezeal 2009

The last day in school

The last day in school,

we thought we have had it full.

Cheering loud as we stepped out of the hall,
those that will succeed and those that will fall.

Heavy splash of water and powder on our heads,
"we are free like the uncagged birds."



Songs rent the afternoon air,
as we hugged with our faces breeding no fear.



Cost accounting and auditing were last,
those that spied and those that were fast.



The outcome of our deeds we couldn't foresee,
still we hugged and humed like the rumbling sea.



No more long walk to the lecture room,
nor the long hours draped in books,
still we hugged like bride and groom.
The brilliants and the dullards,the gents and the crooks.
Together we cheered on the last day in school

We belong here

We belong here
Why fear and flee?
This is our land
Our fathers toiled and tilled
The soil to bring food to the people.

We rise like the tall baobab
And wage wars like the fierce sun
In scurry and fury
Towards the battle line
We built a fountain of hope
From the weedy fields of destitution.

We belong here
And hence shall lie our bones
Protected by our own soil
And not of that where we live like a fugitive
Let them erect walls
Between themselves and the people,
They shall only make things worse.

He who relish in the flames
Of avarice shall be consumed by it.
They have ruled us
And made our backs a place for their loads.
The cry of the people,
The sweat of the cripple
Shall bring them to justice.
Those who made life miserable
For the people and call themselves leaders.

Where thence do we go?
We are not cowards
Nor are we weak to claim our rights.
The schools are for the rich
What heinous crime is it being poor?
They ride with our money
To the white man’s land,
Drink his beer and wears his clothes.
They come back to tell-
Their people they were remote
And made the laws of the land
Too harsh on the people.
We won’t leave, here we belong.
Let them hear
Even if they are deaf
To the plea of the people,
In the market place, in crumbling huts
And those who made the farms a home,
We will not run from those we fed
And made rulers over us,
We have a right to the luxuries of life-
They alone have subjected themselves to.

Yesterday market women were flogged-
Chased away from their stalls.
Children whose fathers could not-
Afford the school fees were chased home,
Someone was relieved of his job-
And police men have turned into scare crows,
With the aim of destroying our corn-fields.
We won’t keep quite,
Even if we are being thrown into-
The dark room or being shot at.

No jobs for the youths
Kidnappings in the Niger Delta.
Tribal wars and everyday conflicts