Red Valley Poem by Njoyim Elisha

Whenever red is before me, I see the beautiful
Face of my beloved. She was adorned with
Beauty as the sun and like the earth, I could
not do without her embrace. But as I walked atop the corpses of my
Adversaries in Red Valley and drenched my boots in their blood, all I saw was despair.
That which meant love now meant stop.
How will she feel if she saw the canvas
I painted with her colour.
As I looked at the mess my comrades
And I had made, I lamented thus;

‘Life is a cage that binds all men and by my hands Its slaves are free. My spirit yearns to meet Its maker but my body imprisons it like a skilful jailer. If death is freedom from the enslavement of life, then will I live if I die?
I refuse to fight but enemies Keep coming.
I refuse to die but death keeps knocking,
Will this war end when I die or will
My corpse just add to the pile?
Nothing is more onerous than
the encumbrance of knowing the truth when
everyone believes a lie. I leave you this question why did God make Man in the devil's prison? '