Home Poem by A A Umar Udubo

In this crowd of a thousand lonesome minds
you wander to and fro,
saying a welcome goodbye to alien strangers
you looked into their eyes and sensed the encounter of self


Mother watched father kill
she fetched us to our room,
traced her steps back to the slaughter scene
father was there, lying cold and dead

Mother shed no tears
neither fear
nor ire
descended on her face
I fumbled my way into space,
my mother's face
mother was not there
I run into myself, frightened and plagued

Sister, beloved sister, forgive me
the day the cloud of ire and shame
rained you wet
I was raped of sleep and dreams

Remember when we played hide and seek
in our backyard?
sister would come from
afar with our schoolbags
she would say,
remember when you could not spell gun?

you were my schoolfellow!
now you set my home ablaze and my family
you wrecked everything
you marred my dream and made me face nightmares
Oh dear friend, I pleaded with you for the sake of the children
remember when we sang "we are H-A-P-P-Y"

why must you kill my father and assault my sister?
why must you hold this big gun?
why must you take from me my happiness?

your thick, dark shades siege my home
home is a strange abode for me
home is a battle field
home is now a slaughter house
home is a beast spitting death
home is home no more

you chanted the song of freedom
you preached and you sounded like a savior
father, your father, shook his head
there was an impending doom growing in you
our home sighed and wheezed out blood
the skies turned somber when this song
resounded loud in the horizon
and all is consumed by death
the signs that siphon our emotions
land with us in a mass grave

we fled home,
waving goodbyes to dreams and peace
kissing farewell to sound sleep and cheesecake,
stepping into refugee camp
into this crowd of a thousand solitary minds...