Lagos (A Poem)

Lagos

source

You're a woman
With multiple legs
Crisscrossed above running waters
Your face is lovely,
Thou art lovely
Until we are found in your pubic
Then we curse the Day
We met you.
Therein we see the forlorn
Breed bearing stillborn
Hopes lying lifeless
In their slender lap under
Your legs, under the bridges.
We touch your face -
A beautiful bay bearing
Gardens all about.
We are amazed.
Thou art everything
For thou art united
By the very thing
That puts you asunder.
Thou art enough for us.

source

---

Authors notes :

Lagos is the largest city in West Africa, very busy and surrounded by waters on all sides. Indeed it is the center of economic activities in Nigeria.

The poet writes this simple poem on transit in one of the public buses known as molué. He writes from third mainland bridge which connects Lagos Island with the Mainland. He muses about the beautiful attractions of the great city and also the slums where the homeless and destitutes struggle to etch out a living. The poem is written in free verse.

Follow @buterdaniel