Tag Archives: Poems

Curb The Negative

Do not let the ripples of irritation in life
Be they constant, or intermittent, detract
From the promise and joy of living earnestly.
For they, possess the power and proclivity
Of attempting to consume or overshadow
Life to the disadvantage of sustained progress.

Therefore, make diligent entreaties towards
Focusing on the nature and promise of hope.
Accentuate that which inspires the spirit to soar.
Convert the destructive into positive momentum,
And propel yourself forward to the realization
Of the dreams you envisioned for the fullness
Of the bountiful gift of the life that is yours.

 
YemilBenjoy ©

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Reflect Nigeria – Vacant Noise

The hollow platitude by the government about how
Malevolent the abduction of the Chibox girls was …
Is yet but a meaningless mirage of feigned solace
To the girls in the clutches of utmost despair, their hopes
Their families, the nation and the world, and
Wretchedly cause more consternation and anguish.
Without a doubt, the issues of import are thus,
What has been done by those who proclaim they govern
And what will be done forthwith by the Nigerian government
To return to their communities, prior lives and innocence
The young girls kidnapped from within their school and country.

Alas, the national query about the safe passage of the girls
Back to their abodes in safety, must incessantly without pause,
In loud and unyielding refrain, drown out the puerile
Statements that advance, neither cause nor even weary hope,
That our girls will be returned home without further delay.

As the adage goes – talk is cheap!
Tell us something new, show us progress and bring back our girls.

YemilBenjoy ©
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Reflect Nigeria Tragic Fiction 5 – Prayer Of An Abducted Chibok And Now Dapchi Girl

I am weary of this horrendous and feigned existence that I am forced to live
And seek complete deliverance, like some of my comrades in chains before me,
Fortunate to be relieved eternally, from the atrocities of oppression that are
Conjoined with the degradation and unveiled brutality of sexual bondage,
Into the embrace of death, from this unbearable agony that ceases not.
For I understand, that it is a transition through redemption, to eternal peace.
Which is what I seek, like some of us, who have since had the tragic fortune
To escape, from this realm, like birds from the captor’s grip, but forever free.
That respite, is what I urgently need from the endless lashing of the torture,
From the shackles of despair, as all innocence is lost from these forsaken woods
Where neither normalcy nor joy nor hope abound, and evil reigns supreme.
I said my prayers silently, the prayers of my own faith, to remove me swiftly
And instantly, from this place, and for this, I now without patience await.

YemilBenjoy ©

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Reflect Nigeria – Tragic Fiction (4) Thunderous Silence

Although this is a fictional narrative, sadly it is to convey what an abducted girl in captivity may write:

Thunderous is the silence of inactivity in the country concerning the continued situation of the hundreds of girls abducted from their school in Nigeria.

Mr. President:

How was your breakfast today? How was the comfort of your tranquil bed last night? Well, I have not eaten anything in two days, neither have I slept in my dormitory bed or enjoyed the comfort of my family home in 10 weeks. What a tragedy! Let me remind you, in case you have forgotten, that I have been in the stranglehold of captivity since I was abducted between the hours of April 14 and April 15, 2014, from my school in Chibok, Nigeria as I slept in my dormitory dreaming about my future. A future that I hoped would somehow only be limited by the dimensions of my innate potential. However, I was not allowed to pursue that promise because of the ineptitude of my government; due to the failure to protect vulnerable school girls and the failure to rescue us. What a pity!

Again, lest you have forgotten, let me remind you of the horror that has befallen the daughters of the country you took an oath to protect. Or do you somehow pray that we will become shadows of the night blended with oblivion and erased from the remembrance of the nation and the world. Although, we may have been relegated to the recesses of existence, by the inexcusable failure of your government to adequately protect our school and the unconscionable failure thereafter to effect our immediate liberation, the undeniable fact is that we are Nigerian girls who were violently snatched from the pursuit of our lives, a right, inalienable, and bequeathed to every human being. Lest none forget us, one of our collective prayers in incarceration is that history etch our names indelibly in blood in the chronicles of the mind and time so that our names and faces will never be erased from the collective memory of the nation, and world.

How tragic the unbridled grief of our families from whom solace stands ever fickle and aloof in the debris of shattered hope. What exactly do you think has been our fate? Do you somehow believe that we have not been beaten, gang raped repeatedly, degraded incessantly and humiliated beyond description? Or do you choose to ignore the reality of our situation. The stark reality is that the depth of the depravity we have been subjected to by evil during the day and at night is unimaginable. As the horrific moments turned into horrendous days and now those days into the dreadful months, all figment of hope has dissipated into smithereens. We languish in the midst of despair and mourn the death of our dreams and the abrupt cessation of our youth. Should your government not be leading the campaign to rescue us from this vortex of fear? Rather, instead of determined valour, in its stead lies crippled the skeletal and desiccated remains of apathy. Alas, dead and still, lie any mirage of the vacuous platitudes to extricate us from this quagmire. Have you even declared a day of mourning for us? For we hear the stories of you dancing at parties and boarding jets beyond the boundaries of the nation as we suffocate in this cesspit. What a calamity! Woe betide and cursed be the night of April 14 through April 15, 2014, in the history books of Nigeria. Let it stand in infamy in the history of our country as mothers rend their garments and fathers gnash their teeth.

I hear the boots of oppression approaching … so I must stop again.

Fictional story to be continued.

YemilBenjoy ©

 

 

 

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Eternal Comfort

They may assail your being…
Take all your earthly possessions.
Unjustly curtail one’s liberty
Confiscate all they think you own
And trample on one’s humanity
Even unto the cessation of mortal life.
Yet, they cannot even if they try
Touch the Almighty God and Creator
Who provides the divine assurance
Of Eternal bliss, even if they try.
Thus in all matters, rely completely on
He who is greater than greatness, and
The generous benefactor of all grace.

YemilBenjoy ©

 

 

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Courage’s Pull

When courage’s conviction visits thy habitation
Will thou in earnest, welcome and adopt it fully,
Or will thou dismiss its valiant entreaties, to stand
Ramrod under its auspices, for its just and fearless cause.
Courage precipitates the flourish of advanced audacity.
Thus, imbibe its virtue, don it ardently as shield and sword.
As shield, to proceed valiantly when its essence is required,
Or to protect you, from the putrid tempest of ugly repression
When eventually you are counted amid the virtuous assembly.
As sword, will you deliver from the pulpit of righteous indignation,
Rendition, powerfully piercing through the cloak of brutality, to
Challenge the venomous sting of atrocity spearing tormented souls.
Tarry not, courage still beckons to all, zealously seek to embrace  it,
To its fullest dimension, and emboldened by it, confront that which
Is intent on destroying all that is of positive measure in humanity.

YemilBenjoy ©

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Wisdom’s Trails

Where lieth the true essence of wisdom.

Does it just accompany the chronology of age

Simply because the years turn into decades of life.

Is it found through one existence defining experience

Or amid the multitude of challenges encountered during

The phases shaping the course of our fragile mortality.

 

Is it manifest in considered circumspection, probably

Applied in varying degrees to ensuing circumstance and events.

Is it the unique province of a few who then impart it wisely

As revered sages to the expectant seeking its solemn direction.

Or is it a derivative of the collective thoughts, then spoken, or woven

Into bound volumes of scholarly accounts for the edification of many.

 

Could it be, that it is encountered in the calm solitude of the walk

Through the parks and gardens of contemplation, or arises from

Deep within the routine of the communing with the supreme being.

Possibly, it may reveal itself in one of or a combination of these.

Yet, the one who finds wisdom should guard it utmost jealously

For in its midst, is contained the invaluable compass to navigate life.

 

Thus, irrespective of where its imprints are encountered,

When indeed in its time, it attends to your discernment

And commands by its very stature one’s rapt attention

Court it fully, and abide wholeheartedly by its doctrines.

With astuteness, hold firm to its priceless undeniable virtues

To guide your judgement, utterances and all undertakings.

That its essence, may steadfastly illuminate your course

With its sagacious attributes to your enduring benefit.

 

YemilBenjoy ©

 

 

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Will Anybody Come To Your Aid

Will you hear me when I call for help for anyone in need
Or will you elect to ignore the cries and ardent pleas.
Will you heed the sobbing or wailing in the night
Or in content, drown them in feigned oblivion or indifference.
Will you walk away when affliction confronts others
Convincing yourself, that someone else somewhere else
Will in your stead, seek to rescue the sorely oppressed
And downtrodden masses, trapped under evil’s albatross.
Will you close your eyes to all the aggravated suffering
That beckons loudly for necessary and sustained intervention,
Till no solace is offered to neither nations or hapless souls
And all civility is obliterated from the course of humanity, then
The unconscionable, thriving reigns wantonly and supreme
While decency itself is subjugated amid complete despair
Till you, then look around for urgent help for yourself, and
Find, all figment of lost hope, lying conquered and entombed
Within the ruins of decency, and none can no longer rise
To your rescue or dare stand to extend any measure of relief.

YemilBenjoy ©

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World – Ponder This

The fact that the gender that bears and brings forth humanity

Is often treated with unveiled disdain and repugnant brutality

Truly, is an irreconcilable absurdity of the human existence.

Save our girls!

 

YemilBenjoy ©

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Reflect Nigeria – Abduction of Girls – Questions To Be Answered

When did the government know that the girls were kidnapped? Did the government know about the kidnapping 4 hours before the kidnapping occurred or after the girls had been kidnapped?

What was the action plan developed by the government to prevent the kidnapping if they were forewarned about the kidnapping?

What was the action plan developed by the government immediately after receiving news of the kidnapping? If an action plan was developed, when was it developed?

Why was there communication soon after the kidnapping conveying that the girls had been found?

When was the mission to rescue the girls activated by the government?

Did the government wait for the offer of assistance from other nations or immediately request assistance?

Did the gender of the kidnapped children play a role in the handling of the national calamity?

Are there men and women willing to resign in light of the handling of the national calamity?

Is the welfare of Nigerians important?

For the abducted girls, the inconsolable families and the distraught nation – somebody please answer these questions.

YemilBenjoy ©

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