The Crowned Contagion Poem by Diipo Fagbolu

If I do not die tonight
I shall be stronger in the morrow
I shall trample the empty streets of Lagos
With the roving feet of my eyes
I shall listen to the silent rhymes of our silence
And dance as I sip the first smokeless air
Left in the wake of our isolation

If I do not die tonight
I shall be stronger in the morrow
Waiting for the hands of the sun to come wake me as it shines on the empty chairs in our parks
Through my window I shall look through
my neighbours window for a moment
Before I shout a loud good morning

If I do not die tonight
I shall be stronger in the morrow
I shall jog a few miles in the corner of my room and ignore the car horns that are not blaring
I shall grab my old pen and verse a poem
Of how the whole world bend-the-kneel to a crowned deadly contagion

If I do not die tonight
I shall be stronger in the morrow
I shall tell of how it went from cities to villages, taking breaths away along the way
I shall tell of how it takes hostages at will and for entertainment slaughters men and women
Especially those who dared.