Style and Rhythm: God’s Scanty Piece of Land

God came to a land,

a scanty piece of land,

which was just a twinkle in his eyes.

Feeling bored and wanting to do something,

he showered his powers on the land.

It was beautiful,

everything was present,

other lands envied it.

The prophet said the land shall be a slave,

and it was.

It was a slave to itself and other lands.

As the earth revolved round the sun,

so did the land revolve around destruction.

Slavery ate up its heart and it felt cold.

Destruction left the land with nothing.

Everything can become nothing.

Fingers are pointing to each other

with no one to revive the land.

Till now,

The fingers are still pointing,

and the land is sinking to Hades.

I have to stop talking now

The baby is angry and crying.

This poem on our Style and Rhythm column was written by Adaudo Anyiam-Osigwe and is from her book of poems – Words from Beyond when Crying for Myself: Musings of Childhood