Vain Merriments

Hear them chanting, singing and dancing
See laughter lurking beneath their mourning faces
They are panting like leopards running races
With both legs under their thighs shaking
It is obvious that peace is far from them

Deceptive smiles under hideous imperfections
Crazy partakers of retrogressive evil impartations
They walk around dirty shrines like herbalists chanting incantations
Like infections, sowing seeds of ominous recessions

The tree has given up its health and life
Yes, the tree of conscience within them is dead
With countenance like that of a slave that has lied
Even when his master is ready to take his life

Nevertheless, the end will come and life will quench
Evil doers and ruthless offenders will die
Like seeds die when they enter bad soil will they die
And when in the grave, their rotten teeth, they’ll quench.

By James Lisandro Jnr.

A familiar Breathe

( A poem written firstly, for a friend and then, my friends. And finally, a poem dedicated to life, zoe, iye.)


The breathe of a stranger might cause a snare
A smile from a stranger will I not spare
For like ghosts dressed in horrible attires
The breathe of a stranger frightens more than deadly spiders
But, a familiar breathe could calm a troubled heart

I dare not stare a stranger in the face
I dare not set unfamiliarity into racing pace
No, not that my ways are as unclean as homeless pigs
Neither have I really purposed in my heart to keep away from pigs
But, it’s all because of the presence of a familiar breathe

My heart is heavy and stationary at a stranger’s intrusion (imminent silence)
My mouth is filled with seeds of silence-growing with essence
My intellectual mind goes blank with total emptiness
Oh! What could rescue me from this horrible filthiness?
I know no nearer remedy; no better antidote; no quicker healing
than the breathe of a familiar life

When my heart is filled with drought and emptiness
And it seems to have lost every impression of happiness
I desire no other cure for this enslaving disease of blankness
For, no other remedy promises me instant redemption
I say, none does it like the assuring presence of a familiar breathe

I have seen several eyes and numerous hairstyles
I have perceived countless mindsets from distant miles
I have noticed diverse gifts and talents locked up in various human personalities
And, I too have received several attentions with joyous lifting of elation
But none has lifted my soul like the flow from a familiar breathe