staronthenile

FREEWAY BILLBOARD!

If you had a freeway billboard, what would it say?

Give us a word of peace then a world of peace will emerge!

Our ideologies might differ, but no good ideology betrays peace!

When peace is enforced by an instrument of coercion, an inevitable conflict lies in ambush!

Peace has no ambiguous cost!

We can have peace when all hands come clean!

War has no path to peace!

True peace is without conflicts!

Where there is love for humanity, peace reigns with humanity!

An antidote to peace lies with leadership with no sincerity!

Political ambition does not worth a drop of blood of another man!

Policy that instigates men against men is not better than fascism and Nazism!

The value of peace is appreciated when the life of every man is valued!

Choose any of the above for your freeway billboard,

As we all pray for a world of peace and tranquility!

SELFLESS LOVE

What is the greatest gift someone could give you?

He is the author of life yet He gave up His own life,

He rules in the heavenlies yet He condescend to mortality,

Himself and His father chose to save mankind from an inevitable perdition,

Out of agape love, He surrendered His life for the salvation of all.

“for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,

that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,

but have an everlasting life”.

What a gift can be greater than this,

That a man should give His life to save His friends,

The love of Jesus for humans knows no bounds,

He did not only died for my sins, He saved me from the powers of sin,

Just the way He has saved many, and still saving as many that will believe in Him.

He has likewise gone to heaven to prepare a place for me

That where He is, we might be also.

A love that transcends mortality, is a definite love

No any other gift can be greater than His selfless love…

COLLEGE

What colleges have you attended?

A tender little mind with optimism,

Hoping to win the world by going to college,

On the last cadre of high school,

We all aim at gaining admission to the best of our local colleges,

Not because we so much appreciated studies,

But because we have been indoctrinated

that going to college earns us the treasure island,

Where wealth is magical and fortune is automatic,

We have not a thought for skill acquisition,

All we wanted was a certificate upon graduation,

Little did we knew that the reality of our world varies from just a certificate earn from college,

So I joined the wagons of admission seekers,

After much attempt in the space of five years,

I got admitted into Obafemi Awolowo University,

Just to study Geography Education,

Four years course was soon ended,

Yet the quest for higher certificate kept increasing,

Then I picked up a masters program in University of Ibadan,

Sooner than expected, a master degree was added to my certification,

Yet without any skill acquisition apart from college certificates.

The reality is here,

The world is practically not for paper certification carriers

Only the sharp ones with desirable skills found the treasure island,

As against our indoctrination in the age of dark orientation.

With all our college certificates,

Here we are struggling to get the crumbs,

Employers need skills not paper,

Colleges are good and fine with philosophical thoughts,

But they will be better when sellable skills are added to thoughts and philosophies,

Just few percent of Harvard graduates could locate the treasure island,

Graduates of London business school are not all business tycoons,

Name and prestige of our colleges could not afford us our desired luxuries,

Just a sellable skill outside the confine of our colleges can give us more.

Our world is no more confined in the four corners of a classroom,

Our world seeks opportunities even on a dunghill,

Where waste materials can be transformed into useable.

The name of my college matters less,

The productivity of the skills acquired makes fortune.

I suggest a modification of curriculum,

To give an allowance for basic and technical skill acquisition,

That our graduates will be skillfully seasoned,

And our streets will be less of job seekers.

Especially to my local world in Africa,

Where college certificates have little or no place in the labour world.

THE COST OF GAS

We live as ingrates as we toil on daily,

Never could anyone negotiate with nature,

The cost of our breathing gas,

Neither has it been measured for the free man on the street,

Yet no one cares about the cost of gas.

In billions we are scattered on the face of the earth,

Free gas for everyone to daily inhale,

We know no value of the measureless gas,

Yet no one seems to ask what the cost is.

Not until Mr. Somebody lies helpless in the ICU,

When his lungs could not tap from the free gas as others do,

The only means of survival is to buy the measured gas,

As human gadget aids his respiration,

Twenty-four hours gone past before his stability,

He could breathe now without the aid of a respiratory machine,

Then the doctor gave him a bill,

Just a ten thousand dollars for the gas

that was provided to sustain his life.

In tears he looked at the doctor,

Not because he couldn’t afford the bill,

(Of course, he is a very wealthy man),

The doctor inquire from him why the tears,

“I am seventy-four years old, all this while,

I have enjoyed the free breathing gas,

I had never taken any thought to ask,

About the cost of the gas I daily inhale,

Just in twenty-four hours, I have to pay ten thousand dollars,

If I were to pay for the ones I have inhaled in seventy-four years,

I would be dead by now.”

As Mr. Somebody muttered those words,

Rivers of water flow down his checks .

The story of Mr. Somebody sounds so casual,

But any of us could be in that situation,

As a matter of fact, many lie helplessly in the hospital,

Gasping for gas to live,

Many are paying millions of dollars to get what seems worthless to common healthy man on the street,

Can we just purse for a while,

To count the cost of our daily gas,

Should it be ceased for just a minute,

Billions will be laid in six feet below.

What is the cost of our breathing gas?

Could anyone out there quantify it with a price tag?

I guess none could get that done.

To the Creator of the universe,

To the Author of nature,

To the Almighty God who has fashioned the earth and it’s life supporting nature,

I am not ungrateful,

I know not the cost of the gas I breathe,

Even if I know, could I have ever afford paying for it?

Just for this reason oh God of all flesh,

I have come to appreciate your benevolence,

For giving me priceless fortune daily,

As I inhale freely without a cost.

As you read this lines of mine,

I guess you are also appreciating God,

For the free fortune of life you inhale freely.

Could you have ever afford the cost, if we all must pay for it?

SCARCELY

Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you?

playtime often scarce when goals is several yards away,

A resolute mind is never amused though the world goes for game,

Especially in this part of the globe where the violent takes his right by force.

May be once in a blue moon when the mind seems satisfied,

Then the body is served with a plate of amusement and a jolly cut.

But daily playtime, no way!

We struggle for basic need down here,

Hungry belly never play,

Thirsty throat never smile,

Bills are not paid by the amusement on the beach,

Playtime is just an annual visitor that journey with summer break,

After annual break, it goes back to “who knows where”!

Never a daily playtime for a kangaroo pursued by a pride of lion.

I doubt it’s existence down here.

NOTHING ELSE !

What makes you feel nostalgic?

The cost of appealing to my pen to wake from deep sleep

Pleading to have him back at his full potential,

That he might paint the marbles with a touch of sapphire and onyx,

And the paling walls of words might be reinvigorated,

As the downcasts find some words of hope with courage to run more.

Can the world around plead with my pen to wake from his deep sleep,

Almost two moons have gone with time, and my pen is yet to wake.

Nothing else can make me to be more nostalgic,

Than to see my pen alive once more!

GRAVE

Deep down in the belly of rock,

Beneath the hip of sand bars,

Lies a lonely lifeless body,

In the dark that sees no sun,

No friend, no family no foe,

Solely isolated in perpetual solitary,

Where communal order

ceases to exist,

Only the microbe finds new

flesh to eat,

Thick darkness under intense heat,

So feebly weak a bone to resist,

No riches or wealth goes

down there,

A hidden hurt of emptiness.

A dungeon where

nothing else matters,

Not even our wealth or penury,

All lies in equal order,

Though our casket may be different,

Land of the forgotten lies down there,

Just six feet away from here,

Where great philosophers

are swallowed,

And great kings laid

powerlessly helpless,

Wisdom cries on the street

of the living,

To the wise and the simple hearted,

As the clock ticks in bits so fast,

And time of everyone

keeps fading off,

Though the grave is an

inevitable end,

We can still make good of the present,

To be good to others

while we can,

To cherish our relationship

while we can,

To love and care for others

while we can,

To impact positively

while we can,

Time in time we will cease to exist,

And our good or bad deeds will

only be on records,

While the body is hidden beneath

the rocks,

That we might all come to this reality,

That the end of every mortal

waits in the grave,

And life itself appears in judgement,

Tell the wicked richman to beware,

Let the callous leader take caution,

Appeal to that heartless boss

to thread softly,

Everyone will be lowered and

buried under the rubbles,

Where powers and affluence

have no place,

Oh how I daily set my house

in order,

As the end of life daily draws closer,

Down there would I meet no friend,

Up here must I appreciate the

ones I have.

The grave is just few feet away,

Only the wise read the map.

INDEGINOUS TONGUE

An awakening clarion call for all Africans to realize the mediocracy of foreign acculturation at the detriment of our naturally beautiful African culture.

A man who betrayed his identity will always remains not only a second class fellow, but a third world citizen. Little wander, Africa countries are predominantly referred to as third world nations.

Self realization and self appreciation were the key to the economic prosperity of the Asian Tigers, their natural tongues (languages) are considered as their official mediums of instructions, medium of communication as well as the wheels that drive education and research in their various countries. It is no doubt that these Asian Tiger brothers are doing fine in all facets of life endeavors.

Our neocolonial masters in the West appreciate the beauty and the prowess of indeginous language, that’s why they all are thriving better in the world economic and political sectors. No Western countries can refers to it’s language as a vernacular, hence they all are proud of their respective languages even in the international conventions.

But for Africa, we have consciously traded our birthright for an unproductive treasure that has only limited us to the lowest stratum of the global socioeconomic ranking.

It is unnatural to relegate ones language to the background and still expect to thrive with a foreign language than the aboriginals of the language. Africa must be awaken to the reality at hand, our respective languages are the birthright given to us respectively to thrive in progress and prosperity. Nature was right to have created us distinctively different in tongues, the purpose was to make each of these languages a golden tool for natural refinement and societal transformation.
Betrayal of our languages is a denial of our birthrights, hence we continue to live at the mercy of others.

The power of the tongue (language) is mightier than the might of a million swords. It is however imperative for all Africans in their tongues and languages to encourage a social construct that will act as a frontier to officialize our local (natural) languages in our politics, education, research and indeginous science and technology.

We are far too gone with the erroneous thought to have denigrated our mother tongues, but we can still repent from our errors through conscious and deliberate engagement to exhume our buried mother tongues.

The only path to a sociopolitical freedom lies at the corridor of self realization, which can only be projected by the power of the tongue (mother tongue).
If we must thrive like others around the globe, we must start to appreciate and to officialize our mother tongues in Africa.

WHERE DO I LIVE

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Home in a distant land where my

colour dictates not my identity,

A society of people with an

egalitarian mindset,

Where all men are seen as

same irrespective of race,

A land of equity, a

community of love,

A city govern by justice where

Where leaders and followers are

controlled by morals,

A home where tolerance

has it’s free course,

Where peace and tranquility

dispelled animosity and war.

A land where love for fellow

human worth more than gold

or silver,

A land with beautiful and

comely minds,

Beautiful cities never made

beautiful hearts,

If it were so, Paris and Dubai

will be filled with angels,

A home void of sorrow and sadness,

A land devoid of segregation,

nepotism and discrimination,

A golden city of men with

golden hearts,

A land with no pain, no

sighing, no tears,

A home for the faithful and true.

That’s the land I love to live,

Beside the crystal sea with a

celestial anthem,

This world is not my home,

How would I prepare to live in

a limited world even if it

holds riches,

Heaven is the land on my heart.

Where anxiety has no place,

Home sweet home, as I meet

the saints of old.

WHEN HUMAN COMPANIONSHIP IS COMPROMISED

What is good about having a pet?

We look for an alternate in being

of lower class,

When no one seems to see our

hidden tears,

We tend to give up on the

intimacy of fellow man,

Since a pet is right here with us

so faithful.

Men are too complex to roll

with atimes,

Some pierce our hearty-trust with

their swordy words and actions,

Little wonder we built

companionship with pets,

Just to have a submissive being

to roll with.

When true love and trust are

compromised in men alikes,

We fill their vacuums with pets,

To have a short term measure

to curtail depression,

Though not the best.

Loneliness of the lonely brings

depressing thoughts to heart,

But little display of these lower

beings in our homes dispelled

thoughts that break our minds.

Pets are good companions when

we feel so lonely,

Pets are good assistants when

we need an urgent errand,

Pets can be good security officers

in an alarming situations,

Having pets reveals the peculiarities

and capacities of lower beings

that men can scarcely possess.