Laju E. Oyewoli

Who has broken my calabash
Who has smashed my waterpot
Who has laid me bare and fenceless
I am already sold for doom
...

For I have caged it
Fiercely and tightly
Never to wander astray
For I have caged it
...

I remembered the night we met
At the lake of many colours
Where the moon shined incrystalline shapes
Filling the atmosphere with the aroma of lavender
...

So I was told
How the lion fell in love with the lamb
How the hunter fell in love with the hunted
Andthe prey fell in love with the predator
...

Take me to Jerusalem
The land of peace
And ubiquitous beauty
That I may rest from the worldly peril of life
...

Pandoras box
Filled with unimaginable doom
And unprecedented gloom
Pandoras box
...

I miss him
Yes I miss him
I miss his tenderness and fondness
I miss his gentle composure andhis masculine aura
...

I found my passion
I found my calling
I found my creativity
I found my skills
...

I was given no chance of survival
I was gifted with a gift of hopelessness
And I was left reluctantly to wither away
At the hands of a dreaded illness
...

Have been bent and broken
But I hope into a better shape
Have been beaten and bullied
But I hope into a better strength
...

Dreams
Where knotty issues become plain
And challenges are slain
Where delicate issues are unveil to curtail
...

At river Babylon
Where its river flows in our peril
And atmosphere glows our plight
River Babylon
...

Her beautiful smile
Brought the snowballed storm to a still
And made my soulless heart still
Her beautiful smile
...

My mother's little hut
Peaceful and calm
Filled with clear serenity
Dirty and ruddy
...

Picking pebbles at pool of Paris
I picked a precious pebble
Whose worth am yet to grasp
For my precious pebble worth more than I imagined
...

I have invited the lizard for a feast
And I must watch it eat
I have dined with the devil with a short hand
And I must watch my hand rot
...

At the rising of the sun
So begins our strength
As it rises across the horizon
Stretching and spreading
...

Rejoice with me!
Rejoice with me people of the earth
Delight with me o ye mortals
...

I dare to give up
At the dice of life
Though the tough gets formidable
And the sweetness of life gets tasteless
...

My African women
Whose tender gaze has woken the giant within me
For it sees and searches my darkest wound
Healing them quickly and gently
...