PEN Poetry Pot: THRENODY by Adamu Yahuza Abdullahi

To the skulls the ground swallowed

To the dreams that got ruptured

To the faces bereaved of smiles

And afternoons of collapsed skeletons

To the moments that tick behind the chest

Like time bombs thirsty for hot bloodbaths

To the days lived in fear - yesterdays of wailings

To the fruits that got plucked off their tender twigs, unripe 

And to every kin yanked and slew in Burma

To the dirges — bitter threnodies

To the victims of faulty policies 

To Yobe, Zamfara — where my brothers and sisters await their death.

To the everyday mourning morning

News on the television screen

To the widowed, the orphaned 

To every bloodshed — promises forced to remain unkept

To the days where goats loathe greens

Because all they see is red

To every agony

To every pain

To every story that droops blood

To every shattered dream

I say, let's put our heads and brains together

In spite of our homes, shredded into rags by war

Let's keep our hope alive — fate like a citadel

And our bright steps will once again spring love

©️Adamu Yahuza Abdullahi