₦airaland Forum

Twenty years, twenty children

Did we not all start life together
With hopes and dreams high and stupid
Did we not all run the streets together
Laughter and shouts, a bother so loud
We actually thought we would always be together forever.

Did we not discover together to play with grasshoppers
Our tiny legs making feeble attempts at speed
Did we not all climb trees together
Hearts and mind pounding as we gaze into the cloud
We actually thought we would always be together

Did we not discover puberty together
That image in my heart still vivid
Did we not eat together
Hands and mouth unwashed yet allowed
We actually thought we would always be together


Oh! We did explore education together
The beginning of our separation
Some chose science, some commercial and other ones art

Oh! We did explore the opposite sex together
The joy of new discoveries with choices that complicated our formation.
Some chose tall, some short we all played a part

We were innocent, untouched by life’s cruelty
We were kids, all small and tiny but happy
We were fearless, all gay and lovely
We were young, nobody told us the proverb of “twenty”

I wish someone took the time to explain to us
We would have prepared earlier and better with more force
I wish someone took the time to say: “with life, no pause”
We would have girded well enough for the demand of focus

Today, twenty years after
I have been to the play grounds
Greeted only by the chorus of the wind and the loneliness of the ground
The laughter and shouts now faint, a whisper of past in the wind

I tried so hard to form some of the old faces in my mind
Some I got, and for some, just the voices of when we were kids
Yeah, my heart yearned again for the lost time
We thought we would always be together

Life happened to us all, marring and making
Hurting and healing
Some survived, some went with the wind

Today, some of us are still alive
Happy and lively
But touched forever with the “twenty”
I still have vivid memories of the life of twenty years ago
A wistful wish it had become
Times that will never come back

Twenty years, twenty children

http://xpr3sions..com.ng/

Big Burly Man

You squeezed into the already tiny space in the bus
With the early morning rush
Deciding to reach into your back pocket
Your elbow pinning me to the side
Just as I thought of saying something
You looked at me and said "shift!"

http://xpr3sions..com.ng/2017/04/big-burly-man.html

My Name is Christie

I came across Williams, he proved to be different
He knew my weakness, and helped me found the strength
With him, my past covered in love scent
My name is Christie, I found it hard saying no

http://xpr3sions..com.ng/2017/04/my-name-is-christie.html