Somewhere in Nigeria.

Somewhere in Nigeria

From Kano  – to borno, Katsina to
Maiduguri, Jigawa to Minna. There's

always a bereft mother who holds her faith
so high – awaiting the emergence of her

matyred son, –son whose body has been
buried beneath fumes of war– son

whose brittle fate has been shattered
by blasts at the war front. Say: what else

does a gun (if aimed at a game) do
except to dislodge the soul off its case?

At a church –in Owo–  on a wintry Sunday;
at the verge of saying the grace, gunmen

barricaded the Lord's house and buried bullets
of violence into bodies of innocent worshippers.

The truth is: in these previous years, it's been
boko haram & fulani herdsmen' attack. But,

today, we whimper bitterly, –shouldering
our loved ones' bodies out of the temple.