Man And Self Poem by Ololade Okunade

Cunning be the state of our hearts, as it yearns for the feelings it's never felt,
For the moment it arrives, do we know it is.
Tricky be the form of our souls, in search of lights for its shadows, in pursuit of truths for its doubts.

Like caged birds we sometimes are happy
If we choose to see not beyond the horizons of your bars and bask in the knowledge of the 'whats and ifs' beyond.
Aye! We see the skyline, Oi! We see the sun
Alas! like distant relatives they be, for we abide in the deep.

But if with the stars it will be, then why stay caged and not free?
And it the seabed it is, why not bequeath to its floors the tentacles of our castles?
For if it was, has been and still is
Why then do we she'd for the lost and not beam for the living?
Why do we stay fearful of our ever dying old hopes?
Why do we stay hopeless for our ever growing new fears?

Since unknown it is to us that which is to come,
Unsure it is to us that which will and might be
Why not then in this gift of now, seeing as all of it is ours, doth we live?
Such that at dusk, with gazes locked at the golden sunset,
Our hearts tells to the horizon,
And our souls informs the beyond
That that which we could do, we did
And that which we couldn't do, we tired
For not more us there to our stay
Nor more would be asked in the end of days.