BOBOLAIYEFA

i am Bobolaiyefa
begging bread on Lagos left-over streets
with the bleating goats and barking dogs struggling with me
i am the common face unknown in the neighbourhood
the miasma that hangs around selfish lives

i am Bobolaiyefa
bending down below earth’s below to feed
on earth’s rottenness
what brought me here is not madness
it is you and my people’s mindlessness

i am Bobolaiyefa
who are you and who is your father?
have you heard wisdom out of insanity?
know not life’s travails yet you claim wisdom
who taught you its lessons?

i am Bobolaiyefa
enter my shoes and tell where they pinch
is everything inch by inch a cinch?
see your incurable madness around me
but how many of you think!