This Poem is for | Ayobami Kayode Tijani Ah’mad





This poem is for parents whose children’s blood

Was splattered on busy road in daylight

As the special anti-robbery squad shot innocent souls

Whose crimes were dressing nicely and refusing to oil their

Hands with crispy naira notes as the “yahoo boys” do.

Innocent souls wasted

While the government watched on.



This poem is a dirge for those executed because

They demanded to live, because they demanded that

This nation should stop treating them like vagabonds,

Because they wailed about the uneasiness building

Castles in their ribcages.



This poem is for those who thought that requiem

Is for older men who have lived lives, but at the end,

We burn candles for them mixing requiem and elegy

With painful memories plastered

Unto our skins.











Ayobami Kayode Tijani Ah’mad is a student interested in writing and academics. He is a third year Literature-in-English student at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. He hails from Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria. When not studying, he is experimenting writing styles on diverse aspects.

Featured image by Eiseke Bolaji, Unsplash



SAI Sabouke
Latest posts by SAI Sabouke (see all)
Tags:
SAI Sabouke
View More Posts
Sai Sabouke is a writer living in New Bussa, Nigeria. He’s a dervish who sees Sufism, history and language as formidable tools for society regeneration. His writing has appeared in Praxis Magazine Online and Agbowo. Sabouke loves beans, coffee and dreams of roasting the entrails of vultures.