What Of The Boy Child? - Uchendu K Njionye

WHAT OF THE BOY CHILD?

'One day you will head a home';

With this he is expected to be mind-tly gigantic from the womb.

But tell me of a farm not weeded yet gives bountiful yield?

Much attention to the female folk

but non to the Boy Child.

The BOY CHILD -

that cloud that died trying to be rain so as to reach earth.

they say the tortise is slow

but they forgot his shell

which is his body in ten.

That boy child laden with words only the wind can comprehend.

Stone heart

forged from lifeless words behind his lips,

shackled with visions visible to dark minds. 

The boy child

who must wear a shoe 

fitting or not

adapter he is.

That boy child

serving somewhere in Nnewi for years

thrown home in deodorant of shame

for miss madam couldn't have her way in him

that bud ripe of innocence at eight by A..u..n..t..y

those boys who followed ODUMEGWU

just to secure a better morrow for their mothers, their sisters.

The boy child

bodies under bridges

finding their path

wolfing from same calabash of faith

finding sleep amidst owls

cobwebs as bed sheet

stones as pillows

holding on hope

waiting on fate.

The boy child

the barrow pusher

that boy in prison for daring to be a Joseph in our age.

That one with hunchback

he fell from a slippery tree 

on a rainy day

for mother was hospitalized

and sisters were hungry.

Boy child

harboring pains in places the body can't feel

he cries, he's human.

He has fears

for even demons dread light.  

- Uchendu K Njionye

Photo Credit: Pencraft