Reaching the Heights

Reaching the Heights
I am reaching for the heights
With grumbling belly on high gear
I know there is something there for me
Lend me your shoulder, the giant in the sun
That I may climb up to the heights
To find the scarce street petrol
To escape the stationary extorting patrol
To police hope into this place
My milk of humanity is soured
By the yeast of my internal strength
Wasted so far on a waste land
Rich in everything, but no will to stop
The drooling saliva of desperation from
The mouth agape with the surprises of
An oil-rich country with greaseless joints
And wobbling weak-boned limbs
If I take after this country
I will jump with fixed joints
And friable fractured bones
That spill the marrow of a nation
And deny her of a life-giving blood
I weep after each jump
When it seems my failing strength
Sets the height farther towards the heavens
Your fluty whisper tells me
My strength is not in the jumpy limbs
But in the flaying gas of my breath
I have chosen to fly even wingless
Beyond the skyless heavenly destiny
With a nation that has defied anarchy


(c) By Professor Ike Igbokwe