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For Leah Shabiru - Stefn Sylvester Anyatonwu


POEM 136: FOR LEAH SHABIRU

I can't find the words right
To describe Leah's plight.
I hope this little piece of mine
Awakens our voiceless unconcern.

Does she feel giddy?
Does she still cry?
Does she look out the window and heave a sigh?
How long shall this gravity
Hold her down to these rascals?

I know she kicks but in vain
I know she whispers prayers to her God
Or maybe she now doubts his existence.
Does she wish her breathe be gone?

But she's just a teenager
Who dreamt of leaving her deadbeat town
One day she went to chase dreams
The next she was never found
Sunrise and sunset have come and gone
and Leah is still in the devil's lair.

You and I, we eat, we sleep
She's not our own, we care not a bit
Until same fate cross our path
Trample our wives
And rip our hearts
Only then shall we realize in Leah
died our very soul.

- Stefn Sylvester Anyatonwu



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