Picking Up the Pieces

Sometimes the cares and worries in life tend to weigh us down. Sometimes life throws too much at one, things get so bad and out of control that all one wants to do is give up. Many a time, one feels so exhausted and afraid of tomorrow and may wish that it never comes. These happened to one of my dear friends, Gene (not real name). He was down and almost out! Things spiralled so out of control that he contemplated lots of negative thoughts! But one day, in his sunken state, he opened up and poured out his hearts. We cried, then talked for about an hour and I shared this piece with him. Because he told me reading it, reluctantly at first, and meditating on it, worked like magic to uplift his spirits, I want to share it with you too. If this poem helps one person out there to get up, pick up the broken pieces, and grab life by the horns, or someone uses it to motivate another, my aim would have been achieved. Here we go:

Be not afraid!
Be not discouraged!
Do not lose hope!
You still can cope!
Keep on believing!
All doubts removing!
It is only but a while
You will break out in a smile!
The storms of life are raging!
Life has become nothing but caging!
Things are all crumbling to pieces!
You already are down and in many creases!
Loved ones desert you!
Friends all forsake you!
Disappointments, displeasures, deceptions;
Frustrations, fabrications, falsifications;
Depression, disillusion, despair;
Everything falls apart as if beyond repair!
Life stinks like feces!
You've become an object of teases!
Things are spinning out of control!
Worries and lack are exerting their toll!
Fears within, terrors without!
Bills mounting, children going aimlessly about!
These all can pass, it's only but a while!
If you lose not hope, soon you again will smile!
Be not afraid!
Be not discouraged!
Get up and start again!
Do not waver, your goal you must attain!
Get up and pick up the pieces!
Rise up and remove all the creases!

HYPOCRITE!

                                      By Nkiru Oh

The right side of your mouth says white!

Alas, the left side seems so black!

You aim your long dagger at my back.

But your lips confess our bond to be so tight!

You smile at me when I am present!

Behind my back, you become so sneaky!

You draw your dart always so creepy!

As you eulogize me with words fit only for a saint!

Hypocrite! That is what you are!

Hypocrite! Your game is up!

Your antics and guile now show at the top!

Unfriendly friend! You are too afraid to dare!

Hypocrite! Liar!! Worse than a fiend!!!

Who needs an enemy with you around as a friend?

Give Love a Chance!

                                  By Nkiru Oh

Some embrace love.

Some shy away from it.

Some are favored by love.

Some scarred by it.

Some commit to love.

Some trivialize it.

Some nurture love.

Some stifle it.

Love illuminates your life.

Love unites and is stronger than strife.

Love makes you often wanna dance!

I wish you love, please give love a chance.

REJOICE!

By Nkiru Oh

You may not be the richest in the land.
And you are not the prettiest in the band.

You do not live at the coveted part of the city.

And do not have millions which cause you self-pity.

You cannot afford a cruise to the Islands

Neither can you pay for a weekend in the main lands.

The list of what you cannot do,

May fill all the scrolls in the world and the seas too.

But wait a minute! Think for a second!!

Those wasted moments can never be regained.

Take a trip to the inside of you.

Examine who you are, enjoy that you in you.

Your life is precious, celebrate it.

Waking up is a blessing, be thankful for it.

Those little things you take for granted:
Getting off the car when you have landed;

Bathing and grooming, putting on your shoes;

Holding up a spoon or a box of your tools;

Driving to the movies or the grocery stores;

Laughing and making merry with friends and loved ones;

Telling the time, your anniversaries and birthdays;

Distinguishing the seasons, the nights from the days;

Though very simple, basic and easy

Yet very complex and unattainable to the queasy!

Count your blessings, name them one by one.

Today is the time, tomorrow may be gone.

Rejoice and be glad, be thankful for now.

Rejoice and be glad, I believe you know how.

Do not wait to marry.                                                                            

There’s no more time to tarry.

Do no wait to have kids before you rejoice.

Or to get that new job before you make your choice.

Do not wait till those unfriendly colleagues all get fired.

Or the wicked bosses that troubled you are all retired.

Count your blessings, name them one by one.

Now is the time, tomorrow may be gone.

Be the best you can, be thankful for your life.

Rejoice and be glad! Celebrate you and end the strife!

The Time is Now!

By Nkiru Oh

Children are crying!
People are dying!
Bomb blasts here and there!
Gun shots adding their share!
Enemies are within!
Instigators are without!
Where do we run to?
Where is safe?
Neither the East nor the West;
Fear in the South;
Confusion in the North!
The world is watching!
What are we waiting for?
Another Rwanda?
Does Sudan ring a bell?
How about Somalia?
How about Kosovo?
Sierra Leone and Liberia still sound like yesterday!
Libya not yet recovered!
Egypt and Syria still in the woods!
Arise fellow Nigerians, our country is in shambles!
Gird your loins, Oh ye peace-lovers!
The task is hard, the journey is long!
Pick up the pieces, wipe your tears!
The odds are many
But united we prevail!
Distrust and disunity have hindered us for so long!
The time is now!
To say No to our detractors!
The time is now!
To reclaim what is ours!
Nigeria is ours!
Please let us not let Nigeria die!
The time is now...