TURN DOWN THE LIGHT

Lekan Ogedengbe 1966 (Ibadan)



Turn down the brightness
For this light brings the focus
On what I am no longer proud of
Focus on me in your arms

Should I now be ashamed
Like a married man
Caught with a prostitute
Or like a man forced
To bury adulterous wife
That died under her lover

From this luscious bosom
I wish not to depart
And your enchanting figure
That ensnared me from the start
The same that ensnared
The one that raped you first
The same for which you were deflowered
Thus becoming stained and soiled
Marked to be disdained and mocked
And now a harlot they turned you.

They came in shades of colour
The white had their thirst
Assuaged from the painful spring
From in-between your thighs
Now your incestuous children
Are having their turns on you
And holding your legs apart
For more rapists from far land
To further demean and deprave you

Now I am ashamed
Being caught in your arms.

About this poem

The poem laments the loss of the innocence of a loved one who has been turned to a prostitute

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Written on March 29, 2024

Submitted by maildupperroom on March 29, 2024

49 sec read
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Quick analysis:

Scheme AAXB CXXXXD XEDEXFCXXG DFXXXGEXG CB
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 867
Words 166
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 6, 10, 9, 2

Lekan Ogedengbe

A Nigerian born in the late 1960s. A graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife and Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna. A teacher, school administrator and education consultant. He's married with children. more…

All Lekan Ogedengbe poems | Lekan Ogedengbe Books

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    "TURN DOWN THE LIGHT" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/184799/turn-down-the-light>.

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