Cycles and circles: Noel Ihebuzor

A poem was inspired by the sad picture of IDPs in Eastern DRC, by Noel Ihebuzor

The tragedy of a journey

on this hunch back road,

slippery, muddy,

filled with slime and grime

tired limbs trudging round

in unending cycles and circles,

on this sterile,

empty, barren highway

smeared generous with a coating

slippery, of thick okro sauce,

now going sour

Truth does not walk this road any more

lies lie in wait for the unwary,

from all four winds and corners

fetid fumes and foams

frothing from ogbono coated tongues

hollow throats,

mirroring hollowed consciences,

deformed by elephantiasis of the soul

the festering cancer enlarges

feeding off a bottomless greed

that has gripped the strong breed

ripped their souls grim

with the grim reaper’s blade

moral paralysis now spawns

new barren creeds of

chop comot make we chop

on a betrayed people,

trapped in endless cycles and circles.