After a war life catches

desperately at passing

hints of normalcy like

vines entwining a hollow

twig; its famished roots

close on rubble and every

piece of broken glass.

Irritations we used

to curse return to joyous

tables like prodigals home

from the city. . . . The meter man

serving my maiden bill brought

a friendly face to my circle

of sullen strangers and me

smiling gratefully

to the door.

After a war

we clutch at watery

scum pulsating on listless

eddies of our spent

deluge. . . . Convalescent

dancers rising too soon

to rejoin their circle dance

our powerless feet intent

as before but no longer

adept contrive only

half-remembered

eccentric steps.

After years

of pressing death

and dizzy last-hour reprieves

we're glad to dump our fears

and our perilous gains together

in one shallow grave and flee

the same rueful way we came

straight home to haunted revelry.


Written by achebe. who can give a helping hand on what this poem is about?
not too good with poems. Thanks

The poems tells of the aftermaths of war;how joyous they are to be back home,how wasteful n fearful those moments were,how they now bungled at what they knew how to do well b4 d war(he used dancing as an example). All as a result of war.

I am not that good in literature but I luv poems. Hope this helps. Have fun!

Thanks that helped a lot. not good in poems. i needed just eight lines to write about, thanks a whole lot. God blessed

It talks about the aftermath of the war at the warfront,obviously the Nigeria civil war. How norlmacy was never achieved due to the pain and loss caused by the war but life continues. It talks about things before the war that annoyed them such as NEPA men who bought bills who are now source of joy because they didn't believe they will
get to see them again. It also talks on how they couldn't remember the dance steps due to the brutality of the war. Finally it talks on how they have to force themselves in defeat,in fear and in shame to go back home to lick their wounds.

Wow so sad. Abeg I no major in anything o.

luvmijeje: It talks about the aftermath of the war at the warfront,obviously the Nigeria civil war. How norlmacy was never achieved due to the pain and loss caused by the war but life continues. It talks about things before the war that annoyed them such as NEPA men who bought bills who are now source of joy because they didn't believe they will
get to see them again. It also talks on how they couldn't remember the dance steps due to the brutality of the war. Finally it talks on how they have to force themselves in defeat,in fear and in shame to go back home to lick their wounds.

Wow so sad. Abeg I no major in anything o.

you killed it, I guess u are very good in literature.

Cold blooded: you killed it, I guess u are very good in literature.

Thanks,I love and appreciate art.

"we're glad to dump our fears

and our perilous gains together

in one shallow grave and flee

the same rueful way we came

straight home to haunted revelry."
this portion of the poem expresses the sum of the writer's mood in reminiscence and optimism hinted by 'fears...gains...in one shallow grave and flee(ing) home' to regain strenght by replenishment since a return has been made in the allusion to the story of the prodigal son 'after the war'.

After years

of pressing death

and dizzy last-hour reprieves

we're glad to dump our fears

and our perilous gains together

in one shallow grave and flee

the same rueful way we came

straight home to haunted revelry.


can you guys help me with this lines more, like cold blooded did? sigh, i wish i was good with poems. i am just too horrible it makes my brain hot lol