Poetry: Ibadan by Kolade Olanrewaju Freedom

Ibadan

Ibadan,

The shape of your body men lust after

Like the galloping derriere of a woman

In her loveliest but meanest prime

Ibadan,

Like birds, demons of dust and rust

Descend upon your boundless roofs

To tell tales of your ancientness

To the saints of your historicity 

Ibadan,

The marks on your bony cheeks

Are as permanent as your fame

Transcending the invasion of your lands,

Enslavement of slavery across coastal lines

Ibadan,

Your words are naturally humorous

Creating a peculiar mess in the ears

Of your detractors who are ignorant

Of The Penkelemes Years…

Don't turn a blind eye!

Father, that malnourished child

who strums the guitar of hunger

on desolate streets of poverty

begs to feed on crumbs

falling off your golden table.

Don't turn a blind eye!

Mother, that wild, merchandised child

who makes your head dangle in shame

for womanhood, humanity and posterity

can still be tamed and saved.

Don't turn a blind eye!

Humanity, that homeless child

who wanders in the valley of negligence

beseeches you for a home, no, a crib...

don't push him away!

Justice, that abused child

is as defenseless as an orphaned chick.

where are your wings, O Justice?

I rebuke your guilty silence!

Quit sitting on that towering fence

lest you fall into the rescuing hands

of injustice.

*The dignity of humanity is embedded in love, empathy, benevolence, hospitality and selflessness not indifference, bitterness and religious bigotry.

~ Kolade Olanrewaju Freedom

This poem is inspired by a heart-wrenching story(news) I read off Linda Ikeji's blog. Shared below:

Pope Francis who is currently in the Philippines was moved to hug these two children after one of them, 12 year old Glyzelle Palomar, a rehabilitated homeless girl, asked him in tears why God could allow children to become prostitutes.

"Many children get involved in drugs and prostitution. Why does God allow these things to happen to us? The children are not guilty of anything.” Palomar said during her speech at a Catholic mass.

Pope Francis who couldn't find an immediate answer for her question, got up and gave a hug. He later replied her and the congregation saying:

“She is the only one who has put forward a question for which there is no answer and she was not even able to express it in words but rather in tears. I invite each one of you to ask yourselves, 'Have I learned how to weep, how to cry when I see a hungry child, a child on the street who uses drugs, a homeless child, an abandoned child, an abused child, a child that society uses as a slave?” He said.