Mid Year Blues
Every rain, every rain,
the water flushes the guts of Lagos
and writes a poem of pain.
Each grim sight festers in its pool
until the moments bow in shame
and the streets are floods of errors
waiting to be drained.
The feet select their steps,
recoil from mud, deny their guilt.
The eyes searching the wetness
are pregnant with the absent sun.
The nation tells her tale.
Each great wind echoes the dream
until in the drenched moments
there is a thirst for sunlight,
and in the air a lament is born
for the prosperous paths not taken.
Afam Akeh
Afam Akeh is a Nigerian writer. A graduate of the University of Ibadan. His works have won awards including the 2nd prize in the BBC Arts for Africa Competition back in 1988.
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