POOR GIRL IN A SWEATER FOLD

by MICHAEL OGAH
(NIGERIA)

My heart bleeds for the things I cannot change

Watching people suffer in a world that’s rich is strange

Last night I saw a little girl sleeping by the road
Compassion and pity hit me like a load

She was on her school uniform “white and blue”
I just stared at her not knowing what to do

The night was young but very cold
She tucked her arms in her sweater fold

I walked back and forth then I approached her
The brother walked up to me “what can I do for you sir?”

I’m a poet and I write for newspapers
I saw your sis and I got scared of rapists or kidnappers

Don’t worry sir; we are waiting on our mum
We’ll be gone by the time she comes

We live in the thatched house by the right
Very soon we’ll call it A DAY and goodnight

As I walked on, listenig to the savage garden song” Two Beds and A Coffee machine”
I learnt to appreciate the little things I have even if it’s a peg or a pin

And so I soliloquised the song as I strolled home
Another ditch in the road-KEEP MOVING
Another stop sign-KEEP MOVING ON
And the years would go by so fast
And you’d wonder how you ever made it through

Finally, what had I learnt?

That life is a challenge –FACE IT
Life is a journey-TRAVEL IT
Life is a song –SING IT
LIFE IS A STORY-TELL IT

People, while we complain on the absence of wine, some people wine and dine on the streets. so be ever grateful for were you are, because life could have been worse.