Sunday 24 March 2013


Prisoners at Will

I am a prisoner in my own home
The only difference is that I have the keys
My bars are cut to exactly to my size
The walls I built with my own biceps
The Parish priest blessed the foundations
Even my enemies celebrated the completion

I am the hunted in my own jungle
A prey to the mouth I fed with grace
Edible game to the spouses of those I freely give
Their dane riffles, I polish with my tax
The pallets we casted in my fathers foundry
Now like I chicken I have gone for the roast

Suddenly, I am told to lock up
My jailers thousand of miles away but,
Sit in your cell! He screams, or be fed to the desert dogs
The fear of the dogs or the screams of the jailer
Both the source of eternal fright
Just last week the dogs eat them all in onak!

Now I have to dig my borrow deeper
With a thousand escape routes to puzzle the hunters
Down! Down!! I dug till I found myself in the zoo
At least, here the hunters are out of bounds
But thought of the forest still makes me wonder
How many prisoners at will will ever get their freedom!

                                                    Omo-Ekun, Ilu-nla '13