It’s gratifying to surmount an obstacle,
But it’s not joyous to hurt to reach the goal.
Be it work, sport or hobby
It's not fun to break limbs, necks,
Injure brains, spinal cords or get maimed,
End up on a wheel chair, become a vegetable or die
To arrive at desired objectives.
Reasonable limits should be set and observed.
It’s not a question of cowardice
It’s a question of affecting loved ones
When calamities occur as
Life changes beyond expectation
In such sad encounters
And many close to you feel the effect
In one way or another.
ABUSE IN THE TRAIN
Two helpless high school girls,
got summoned to first class compartment
without knowing their mission.
The ticket examiner obeying orders,
came rushing to fulfill that command
maybe knowing or not what was afoot.
The girls were in second class compartment
occupied by four other female passengers
as the train was in full capacity.
The messenger knew not the girls,
but having seen them while doing his duty earlier,
came straight to deliver the message.
Maybe it was routine for him.
The scrap of paper holding the message
had the big man’s identity.
Whether because of fear or respect,
the girls went shyly anyway,
stumbling all the way to the last coach.
It was after dinner and time for bed.
After a few hours, one girl returned;
the other remained till wee hours.
The returnee was mum, the other, sobbing
and unable to be normal as before;
eventually succumbed to a loud weep.
She said it all with her tears
as she mumbled words about
how he took a ride on her several times.
He was gigantic and she was tiny.
Walking was awkward and pitiful
as if she suddenly developed serious abscesses.
And the end was sad to tell as
the she got ballooned and couldn’t finish school.
And that was power reigning in that train,
where the young were taken advantage of,
on that journey of ten hours every day
and a reverse one going the opposite side.
And how many such abuse took place;
Nobody kept the tab.
HE LIED TO THOSE WHO TRUSTED HIM
Jake planned visiting Jolene, his girl friend
three hundred miles away in his saloon car.
For some reason, he didn’t wish to travel alone,
claiming his cousin Joe, could go with him
if he wasn’t slogging.
He enticed Joan, Joe’s girlfriend, to go with him,
but she wouldn’t give a yea nod
without Joe’s consent.
It was a Saturday eve
and Joe was toiling till Sunday morn.
Jake played mind games on Joan,
at Jolene’s father’s house,
but Joan was reluctant.
Jolene and Joan were friends
and she was visiting Jolene’s siblings.
He left the venue to call Joe from a call box
and inform him of the travel plans.
After thirty minutes, he returned saying
Joe couldn’t be located at his workstation,
but, Joan wasn't buying it.
He went back round two to call Joe
and returned again with the same rhetoric
and Joan still couldn’t accept his word.
He went back to call round three
and came back with the same response
and Jolene’s siblings pleaded with Joan
to accompany him anyway.
The trip would take five hours one way
and five hours of seeing Jolene.
Return journey was slated to be at night
as Monday was a workday.
Joan went home not totally convinced;
ate and slept ready to depart at six in the morn
and left a message with her siblings for Joe.
The two were to meet Sunday afternoon.
Joe turned up for his date, but there was no Joan.
He didn’t believe his ears when he got her message.
Joe had received no phone call from Jake
nor any message from his colleagues.
He went away and returned in the eve
and still there was no Joan.
He went away and returned Monday eve
and there was Joan arriving from duty.
The two talked at length
and concluded Jake wasn’t trustworthy
and he never apologized.
And Joe cried real hot tears
for he couldn’t believe,
Jake could lie the way he did.
And that was just the beginning
for with time, he did worse to Joe
that made Joe curtail relationship with him.
Jake had ill motives that Joe wasn't aware of.
USING A CHILD TO CON OTHERS
Mustaph and Jean were betrothed.
Troy was their three-year old son.
Jean was expectant again.
Both had itchy minds and long hands and
liked reaping where they did not sow
while straining was taboo.
Freebies were welcome any time any day
for every day was Sunday
as sweating was for others.
A visit to close relatives far away,
turned very tricky for
they couldn’t get their way.
They cheated to have a mission with Jean’s
tycoon uncle in town nearby who promised
Jean bucks for use and business.
Money borrowed from the hosts was used in
amusement parks, eating goodies and shopping
with the excuse the uncle was away till next day.
They took cash again and again from the hosts
and on the fourth day, the hosts said they had money
for food only; they were then asked for the car.
The hosts said the car was out of order
and they were then asked for return tickets.
The hosts said they didn’t have extra money.
The trio left the house anyway and came back
with return tickets and
elaborated not where money came from.
It turned out later, no uncle existed
and had the hosts let them have the car,
it would have been the end of them and the car.
The aim was to get the car, drive it back home
using the return tickets’ money for gas,
sell the car and enjoy the money for a while.
To ask for the above, Troy was the messenger for it was
playing games with the hosts’ psychology as
it would be difficult to refuse innocent Troy something.
BLACK WOLVES
Elsa and Arnold visited Estelle and Jeremy
For unknown duration of time
As they had complex issues
In unfamiliar territory.
The hosts were involved in solutions
To the issues alongside, third parties.
Unfortunately with time, the hosts
Weren’t willing to go all the way.
The hosts had ill feelings,
But they weren’t forthright.
They cooperated with fourth parties
To spoil, the whole deal for Elsa and Arnold.
Elsa and Arnold found out thro’ feet dragging
In that ,what could be done in fifteen minut
es
Took a fortnight, while time forged ahead
And nerves were getting edgy.
A job Arnold was about to get, slipped away
For Jeremy acknowledged not knowledge of Arnold
To a prospective employer,
Yet he had lived with Elsa and Arnold
On two occasions besides numerous short visits.
He thus disowned Arnold in time of need.
His daughter, Olivia, had twice lived in Arnold’s house
So had his wife Estelle several times, besides short visits.
Jeremy proclaimed he knew not of the visit,
Yet he had called and emailed often a month before
Specifying what he wanted bought
For himself and Olivia
While Estelle, made her requests separately.
Some snail mail Elsa and Arnold expected
Was collected by Jeremy’s nephew, Micky
Who had the key to the Post Office Box
Under instructions to send the mail to Jeremy.
Elsa and Arnold had left Micky with four SASEs.
The mail never arrived despite Jeremy talking to Micky
Every week on telephone and via email.
When Elsa and Arnold hit a cul de sac,
Caused by the hosts, they set sail never to return.
On reaching their destination,
Elsa found three headscarves missing from her bag.
She deduced the items were taken for mystic use
Just like before when Estelle visited them
And requested for large currency bills
In exchange for small ones, yet she was traveling
And the opposite is what she should have asked for.
IMMORALITY THRO’ VISIBLE LANGUAGE
They live by imagining exciting moves
That make them salivate
For what they don’t have
And will never have
For it takes two to tango.
They forget both parties should consent.
Ken was reserved and followed the laws of boundaries.
Many things were off limits due to his discipline.
They never wanted to see it that way.
Their pelvic hunger lusted on him.
He was very unaware.
A messenger came to proclaim their wish thus-
“If he was not interested,
He was to avoid their routes
For they were tired of wetting themselves
As he passed by measuring his steps as
If he didn’t feel their urges and desires”.
He felt disgusted and embarrassed
For they were his blood
And respect was paramount.
His teen son witnessed the impossible
On his way home one afternoon.
One ran and clung to him tightly.
She was fit to be his grandmother.
He had to fight his way to freedom.
He was unable to talk about it then.
He asked for answers months later.
INEXPERIENCED DRIVER
He went for an overseas job
and left his car at the plane port.
His wife was to go for it awhile later.
Being an amateur,
she couldn’t do it at his departure time
for it was dark and scary.
She chose a mid-morn
hoping for less traffic
and took public bus to the plane port.
But, her mind was not her own
and her palms were sweaty
while her heart raced like a gas pump.
Inserting ignition key and turning it
made her panic and caused her to jump
as the rev sent her blood boiling.
She made sure there were few cars on the road
before she blasted off shakily.
She gripped the steering wheel
with all her might
as if she was in a wrestling match.
A third way thro’ the journey,
she had to stop.
There were too many vehicles on the road
and her system was losing sense of direction.
The road became near empty again
and she blasted off again
jerking the car up and down
like a chameleon on a thin leaf.
Often, the car hit the road bumps
And her head too hit the car roof.
The last third of the route was uphill
and her greatest fear.
She stopped again
to have no car following her closely.
When the road was near empty again
she blasted off again
and stepped on the gas till home.
She had to rest at the gate for a while
to gather courage to pack it at the garage.
Once inside the house, she panted to bed
for hours, to calm down her sore nerves.
Another time, on a visit to a friend nearby
she forgot where the foot break pad was.
Instead of slowing down to stop
she accelerated to the lamp post and hit it
despite the friend shouting to her
to step on the breaks.
She concluded thus-
PLEASURES OF THE EYE
They call it marketing.
Yet it’s psyche game.
It’s like the only thing left in the world to be done.
Hey give us a break!
Personnel are like tendrils along fences,
up the walls and tree trunks
or roots of plants looking for nourishment,
as they follow scents of growth,
accommodation and bottom line.
Hints and smells of information
followed to dangerous levels while
infringing on privacy in the name of data mining.
The word consent lost meaning
as pursuits take another angle.
We are bombarded daily
via calls, emails, visits, audio, print,
bill boards, rolling screens, songs etc.
Giving free supplies to make you addicted
then you can’t stop the mania
and recommend them to others.
Enticing you to get wants instead of needs.
Bundling is advertised to be cheaper
or else you pay thro’ your noses on single items.
An auto hardly used is supposed to be
traded in for the latest model.
A house hardly lived in is supposed to
undergo refinancing.
The trickery is enormous and aplenty like-
‘Buy now and pay later
and take a longer period to pay back.’
What about the charges in delay in repayments!
What about the cost of capital
in prolonged payment periods!
Nowhere and nobody are safe.
Filling forms with personal details
is like giving away your privacy rights,
yet they deny and put disclaimers.
Natural water, salivary glands and tears ducts
must be shunned
because research has made
cleansers, saliva and tears to replace
nature’s work.
Who will save us from it all!
You must take your own stand
by saying an emphatic no
or else you drown in it alone
for not all people think the same way
and no authorities are about to rescue you
for some of them are deep in it.
No wonder you live beyond your means
instead of saving for a rainy day and
feathering your nest for tomorrow
while you make them super secure
and you remain dirt poor,
get cha
ined in debt, die in debt
and get buried while yoked in debt.
LIVING IN SUSPENSE
With no foot on the ground
everything is in limbo.
Even birds get to glide and land,
but not them.
Floating in the air feels like choking
for tomorrow is not promised
and for years it has been so.
Nothing can be planned or attained
for uprooting waves on the faces
and timing is not predictable.
It could be short or long time coming
and the mystery lies in the dark endless waiting.
Meantime, everything is in abeyance.
It is numbing and confusing
for thoughts can’t solidify
as uncertainty creeps in and rules.
Even prisoners know their terms,
but not them.
Sometimes, they gasp for breath.
Sometimes, they cry due to fear of the unknown.
Sometimes, they feel non-existent
for living is like a fantasy.
Who do they run to?
No one.
The system was decided on
and it remains so.
For how long!
Only mail or a knock on the door knows.
GOLDEN JUBILEE