Morning Mirages Poem by Chukwuebuka Adebayo

He was out and about,
Just like a lad aging thirty
With red eyeballs and dark lips
From the burnings of cigars
But never as black as mine
He said, Boy! See what I've got to tell you
Before we get off this ride,
Well, I'd been up in the morning of my life,
Chasing nothing but morning Mirages
Driving the roads I couldn't run out
That every little girls and boys rode free
And staring at the eyes of emptiness
Like the way I'd stared the numbers
That spoilt my good thinkings
Looking for years, couldn't see a sure banker
Nor a straight direct from permutations
And all my hours, I thought times walked slow
Never knew, they were flying wings
I'd sit at night watching screens that made me jerk
But I asked, 'where are you riding to?
He said, 'im the morning mirage, flashing by'
Well, I've been running on a desert sand
Legs held down cause my shoes never helped
I've been loosing since when im was teen
A lucky ball player at school,
But never scored a goalkick.
Well, A man's poison, another's tea
A man tradition, another's truth
Radio would only speak and government always says
There's no job for dropouts like me
But I'm regretting all these things I had done
So I'm following this bus down to Lagos
I want to see my boss after a long time
Want to tell him, I stole his purse
And I did it just to play naijabet
And I will do that with a sorry heart.

I won't stay for so long,
Cause I'm traveling back to ile-ife
Through the skyline of ibadan
Across the bridge of Asejire
I won't stop till I get to my brothers
To hold them close to my embrace
Maybe my father too would forgive me
If I tell him I've changed for good.