My sail was calm on the shoulders of the night
I stood on the wings of those quiet hours
I saw visions of bright horizons
Of vast hinterlands waiting to be explored
I am the wanderer from western walls
Whose home is waiting to be discovered
Seeking for brooks in arid lands
For fountains in the savannah
For rainforests in the desert
Lost was I and willing to be forever lost
In the magic of my dreams
But some dreams are too big for one night
So God gives all a life time
When the morning crows knocked at my door
To announce the arrival of the dawn
I rolled on the bed from which my coverlets had fallen
Slowly I opened my eyes
Behold it was my first morning in the stranger's land
The winter cold breezed in
I said my simple prayers slowly
As my father had taught me to always do
A spark of hope was kindled
A feeling drowned me not to worry
Thoughts of how far I had come caught up with me
The night before this was on a cliff 10 hours away
There my father had touched as I gently laid
And he told me “Son
Life is a mist with cloud of obscurity
Sometimes you get lost to find your way in it
It is not a crime to dream
To hope for heights above the clans of eagles
The dream which dies with time
In the hearts of fools
Blossoms with season like buds of sunshine
Go and become all you are born to be
And when things are dark and hopeless
Find time to kneel in prayers
For with that you can conquer the world”
Father is a great man
A mystery I fear he too might not know
I thought of last night and smiled
A moment with drunks and sloths
May be the little fun a traveller needs
A funny world peopled with clowns indeed
Whence comes this cold assuaging me
Even under my burdening cardigan
The warmth in it is like a freezing ice
I do not wash my teeth that morning
Just like I have done many mornings of this life
I only scooped the water over my kinky hair
And brushed it down my dry face
Ready for what will unfold with the rising sun
Today I will be alone in my room
Not to share my bed with another I hope
Soon again I was on the road
Down a hilly slope
With my new boss on his burdened bike
I had a huge mattress across my laps
Lying restlessly between my boss and I
Slow and steady we went
Silently I prayed again for protection
As his bike pierced through the road
Like hunger roving wolves
The wind came to feast upon the bed
Pulling me backward from the iron cushion
I pulled back to remain glued on a spot
But like a straw in a marauding tempest
I was thrown off the bike with no second thoughts
Off like a soldier thrown from his conquering horse
I went down unhindered
From the dust where I laid
An ocean of anger boiled in me
A fire of rage smoked my reddened eyes
I blamed my boss of course
And the federal government
And every other thing but me
I've not come to this land
To carry such a burden on a legless bike
A man walking down the same valley
Looked at me and wondered why I fell
I thought his moving lips we say something kind
Like people always do from the world where I came
Instead he said I should stop being weak
After all I was trained by soldiers in camp
Seriously! Men are mean
I looked at him in disgusting disbelief
"What are you saying sire?
I was trained by soldiers. So what!
Besides, my training isn't to carry mattress
On a cold morning
On a mourning bike
On a rugged road"
That episode ended with simple sorry
We soon hit the road again
This time with the foam tied
Balanced in the grip of my strong hand
We rode as minutes hissed by
Into another bush the bike turned
And there stood a lone building
Only one person lives here for 3 years
A big house of 5 rooms
And only one ghost dweller lives in one
Someone who seldom comes home
I was to be his new neighbour
Of a truth, I was to live alone
In a secluded forest
I opened the room to see what fate has in store
No bulb, no switch, no socket, no wiring, no electricity!
I checked my phone to make some calls
No network and no hope of it coming on
No water even to cook me a meal on a good day
What!
And yes there alone in that bush will I stay
As fate brought across hills and city
To embrace such a humbling compromise
I looked at the almost fallen structure
With huge cracks and holes
That will let in not just snakes
But even a hungry thief
With puzzling fears and questions in my heart
I smiled and spoke a thousand words in silence
***********part 6**********
Overlook typological errors.... It a hurried post that will be edited properly when compiled
© Olatuja Oloyede
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