AFTER THE RAIN

A Prize Winning Entry

By

Moses Chibueze Opara

 

We shaved our beards under
the sky of poverty
under the rain; we roamed in
tattered pants of brutality.
Bruise with rods of hunger,
mental slavery took over our land
and made us hopeless to see.

We searched for a hand
to save us from the grip of death,
and found hope limping through
the windows of our heart.
Dark paths we took in chains
and pleaded on the altars of tears;
sorrow and agony head to head
divert our heart to fears.

The path of life we took no longer
offered oblation on rugged cemeteries
we searched for hope
passing through deserts to cope,
on the waves of cruelty
our hearts were hanged on a rope,
of brutality and fears.

Ashes of agony we poured on our bodies
like children dancing on playgrounds,
we passed through the dark night
searching for another Moses
to save our dying land
we covered, the shames
that made us lame.

To fight for freedom and right of our people
stripped naked under the hardship
we perfumed the dark walls of the black child
with hope and dreams for a future bright,
a future so dear to us
for our children and children’s children.

A dream we fought and regained
holding to a bright tomorrow
we envisioned from a distance
filled with the scents of great dreams.
The black child our land to hold dear with memories
of her struggles for today dreams
paving way for tomorrows glories,
rising from the dreams of our today
after the rain.

Photo Credit: http://www.thesprout.co.uk