Let Us Pray Poem by Echezonachukwu Nduka

For those whose tongues wear different garments
in confusion, dying and waking to die again while
speaking to please those whose shadows are same as theirs.
For those who threw their beads and cowries in the sea
hoping to pluck leaves of fortune from magic trees on arrival,
For those whose arrival turned to sudden departure,
whose departures are lessons learned by less than a handful:
let us pray.

For those who deny their names
screaming and trembling at the sight
of small gods which we all have been,
carrying cards that sell both them and
theirs for no more than a pence,
For those whose names now have a bitter
taste in this conference that has no end,
those who do not seek to end a love that
kills itself and its own for no cause:
let us pray.

For those who see these signs and strive
to find excuses on the internet,
those whose days have become nights like
books which have dusts and roaches as readers,
For those in whose dreams new alphabets are created
that form no word nor world,
Those who only see sins on screen
and read piety from books and Naira notes:
let us pray.