Trapped under rubbles, a poem by Professor Ikechukwu Benjamin Ezeohagwu
I
Final Prayer!
trapped under rubbles,
bent position
several hours of rumbles,
so weak at that point,
dead bodies everywhere,
bricks had fallen
on workers,
struggling to breathe,
cloudy and dark
everywhere,
as if end had come
without bubbles.
II
Immense tragedy,
wrapped in karmic debts,
paving way for credits,
figures of corpses,
found in the debris,
incident plagued
with controversies,
survivors so few,
dead bodies everywhere,
many victims
remained trapped,
unpleasant, bemoaning,
few survived, many dead.
III
I wish those lives saved,
would have been
joyful and pleasant
moments for us,
such a gory story
sort of tourist
site since,
from far and near,
throng sympathizers,
sellers, on-lookers,
responders,
horrible tragedy
Ikoyi 21-storey building collapse.
IV
What a karma
chemistry brought
them all together
to this incident?
such couldn’t be might
full of light,
life quite
a sacred gift!
so much lie
in the deep
of our weep,
may depth, become height,
in our new pure volitions.
Ben Ezeohagwu won the Onigraffiks Prize for literature (2017). He is Professor of Graphonomy and Chancellor, African American University, Porto-Novo, Republic of Benin and can be reached via Email: benezeohagwu@yahoo.com, www.africanamericanuniversity.
