Deception Poem by Ikechukwu Ogbuike

Dear Son,
There is a smile
That is not measured by the byte of the guile that they hide.
There is a teeth that glitters
Transparently like a film,
But tears to bits and pieces those who fall its victims.
There is a kiss that is
As silent as a hiss that awakens sleep,
So the snake in it could finally sink its fangs deep.
There is a sigh
That is a blanket for a lullaby
But hides maggots
That thrives on thoughts that ought to be forgot.
There is a love
With the allure of a rose
That wilts with the beginning of a sun rise
To reveal a core putrid with vice.
It’s scary to stand in front of a mirror
To discover the image in front of you is an error
A double whammy to see that the past, present and the future
As they file by in the vision….
Has had a kiss from the snake at the garden of Eden
An addiction which even now continues to mould their very culture.
What then makes a champion,
Is not that they come face to face as they must with the chameleon
But the grace of a discerning eye
That enables them to sift through the pastry of lies.
When a bird learns to fly
Without perching,
The hunter who can’t be deprived of his game
Will also learn to shoot without aiming.

My future has died now with my past but yours is still a rage ahead, a long road now my son, one you would be well advised to hit running. Not with the lumbering brutishness of an elephant, but the calculated frugality of an ant. And then who knows, you may yet survive in this rat race, where lies are told so that others could save face.
Forever yours,
Dad.