Death Calls by Omolola Sanusi
Do not ask me to produce a fake laughter that is spiced with mockery
my laughter is pregnant with sorrows
and my moon has a cobweb
with a dangling skeleton
death calls when the blood is congealed with uncertainty
why should the cold shadow of death
tug at the hearts of precious ones without permission?
death hugged friends and loved ones with violence
death is a thug and a thief!
Death is heartless and homeless;
it roams the world looking for whom to devour
a soul was slapped in the face
she only suffered in silence
but we,whose hearts were punched with the elbow of pain,
heard her outcry in that heartless grave
while some begged for your roses,
you slapped others heartlessly
with the roses of hopelessness
DEATH is a misery knocking at doors
leaving mysteries that craves to be unraveled
Omolola Sanusi is a three hundred level of the Prestigious English Department, that has produced highly acclaimed poets like Wole Soyinka and Niyi Osundare, University of Ibadan.
Posted on September 4, 2012, in Creative Writing. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.
Dear poet friend, this is a wonderfuly written verse, but your thanatophobic (hating death) stance is controvertible. Truly, death is cruel, heartless and a ruthless killjoy; but try imagine this world without the death we dread! First, imagine that all of the dead people (starting from Adam & Eve) and all the extinct, dreaded animals were all to still be alive, don’t you think we all would choke for lack of space? Besides, I believe Death kills the pious people before the earthly mess will sully their hands. Remember those ruthless brutes and devilish despots (Idi Amin, Samuel Doe, Abacha, etc.) clinging like creepers to earthly reins? Didn’t Death kill them that our world may rest? Aside that, didn’t Death kill many for mercy’s sake, unburdening them from haunting illnesses, making them happier in death than in life? Is it not the same Death that takes human souls that also kills the cows and fowls and fishes that we eat for our well being? Do you remember that it’s the same Death that kills us that kills the plants that we eat? Finally, wouldn’t ceaseless existence shame senescense (growing old)? Imagine how derelict, frail and ugly humans (and even animals) would look if they were to grow ‘too old’? Death is cruel but good! That’s what my poem “Esoteric Gospel” preaches. Thanks.