Ogunsanya Enitan Olalekan writes

TONIGHT

Tonight,
I shall sit beside the burning pot
where my mama sits to make her meals.
I shall watch how the flames flog tears off her eyes,
as the foods go on boiling with her dipping her hands in its hotness
whilst she tells me how to make meals.

"Listen to the roars of the ants on street
and the barking of the goats"

Feel the breeze that opens our clothings,
the one who covered our macheted bodies
with scars as ancient marks.

Affliction is our daily cream
to which we used to rub our bodies
after bathing with waters of distress
in the bathroom of death.

Agnes:
remind me of the songs our fathers sang
while spraying their destinies with pistols of fear.

Victor:
bring to my memory
the songs our mothers sang in anger
while misfortunes naked them
for tears to feel their heart
after the dagger of the sword on their hopes.

Tonight,
I shall sit by the river of Babylon
to behold our Zion's left-over embers
which was once great
before captivity ruined it.

Tonight,
I shall have meeting with the god of thunder
to puff more fires, for war has began.

I shall talk to the goddess of the river
to pump in waters to fill territories to flood.

Tonight,
I shall keep my eye closed
head bent to the dust of their flight
for the time has come for revenge.