by Sandra Chinonye Vivian Nwadi

I’m no different and our hearts connect, Because the turmoil still tumbles, In my enriched soul.

 

Stepping out of the abyss of sorrows,

Filled with the putrid smell of hardship

And the digging nails of pained boredom,

She walks down the road and

Turns to the crescent just as

I do the same.

 

Walking on, I chew but unseen,

I chew the blended cuisine of my devastating and joyful journeys.

I spit it out.

At a refined corner of the mind

Sits steadily the life’s joyful mix and spices.

Invisibly, I again spit out the pains.

Breathing in the positive thinking air

I throw out my spirit and soul towards

The silver lining neighborhood.

 

She walks on, closer now.

It all shows, the weary weight of whatever

Pulls her down

On her tired, tired face.

 

I pass by a man too.

Just a few seconds after

Where the crescent curves

And he walks on into

The next lane.

I see a face so old.

Yet, on the head of a

Body so so young.

I see a skin stained badly

By the insatiable appetite of sadness

Decorated with despondency.

 

Down, down the long lane,

I still see some happy hale faces

And yet, it weighs the soul down

Of the unequally distributed

Unfairness in life.

 

Those happy, hale faces,

Happy, lively lives,

A reminder of when there was

For us, a heavy down pour of bright lights and joy.

 

Why will these thoughts and things

I see weigh me down?

Why will it weigh you down?

Why is it so painful to smile?

Did you know it can be truly so?

They say they understand

 

But it is the idea of it all.

We weep, weep and stop.

Then, we clean our tears.

Pretending at times with a hundred watts smile

That it is alright.

 

Whether at the beginning or end

Of the roads, lanes and crescents,

I’m no different and our hearts connect

Because the turmoil still tumbles

In my enriched soul.

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Sandra Chinonye Vivian Nwadi is a lawyer, writer, negotiator and mediator, composer and lover of arts. She tweets from @sandranwadi