Some lines are bitter pills
hard to swallow with laughter
like a tongue licking a weeping sore
to douse embers of thirst
Some lines are moistened rock
hard on the tongue
like a breakfast of toad
spiced with roasted cockroaches
Washed down with stale wine
Mixed with mucus and urine
Will a beauty bathe in mustard gas
Cook with sodium cyanide
When heaven holds it tears
And rivulets run dry?
Scream she will,across the stream
Tightly hugging the air in anguish
In our napping homeland
Truth is hard on the palate
As lion’s fiery tales turn fairy tales
In sporting grips of goats
While elergies are sung with glee
Heralding birth and christening
Bones spring in eggs,horns on chicks
Hooves on ducks,feathers on foxed
Dusty buttocks are decked in caps
Seized from harried heads of the honest
Who stirred the hornet’s nest
For levelling the house of deceit…..
This is one of the poems I taught my students some months back. If you you are some one who lives in a society that is soaked in bribery and corruption, you would be able to relate with the words mentioned in this short but very powerful poem.
Gbemisola's focus in this poem is TRUTH. He says that Truths are Hard lines that are difficult to swallow. He calls them 'bitter pills'.
He says that the truth is hard of the tongue. (He means here that the truth is hard to say). he compares saying the truth to eating disgusting insects and washing it down with stale wine!!! EWEWWWWW!!!!
No one want to do that, this is the reason no one want to say the truth. Because it is hard to say and difficult to swallow.
He proceeds to tell us tat no one would venture to say the truth because....
Will a beauty bathe in mustard gas
Cook with sodium cyanide
When heaven holds it tears
And rivulets run dry?
Scream she will,across the stream
Tightly hugging the air in anguish
This stanza simply means that no one wants to get into trouble for saying the truth.
In the last stanza, he talks about his home land. He says that truth is hard to digest and this has led to a lot of lies that is told on a daily basis.
While elergies are sung with glee
Heralding birth and christening
Bones spring in eggs,horns on chicks
Hooves on ducks,feathers on foxed
Dusty buttocks are decked in caps
Are elergies sung with glee? NO
Can you find bones in eggs? NO
Do ducks have hooves? NO
Do chicks have horns? NO
Can you find feathers on Foxes? NO
These can be likened to the lies that is told to the masses on a daily basis.
It's a very beautiful poem! They really express their feelings
Makes me missed my early days of poetry. In fact I'll make one tonight or tomorrow morning.
It's a hard time we are living in, everyday a cry for freedom, everyday we seems to be more free than before but we can't still say certain things for fear of the fight back.
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great publication that this poem tells. regards
very good poem my dear friend. I loved
Good writing of yours. Greetings and blessings