NEVER ALONE

Its’ petals were dying,

Other flowers could see it,

Some flowers were smiling,

For they could not wait to occupy its space.

The stalk could not stand anymore,

It was no longer fruitful.

It had been deprived of its sun,

It had been deprived of a lot of things.

Once green, now brown,

Once straight now bent,

Once surrounded with friends, now standing alone,

Until she came along.

She flew around looking for shelter,

She flew around looking for food,

She flew around and she saw it,

She flew away, but she flew back to it.

Tears rolling down her eyes,

For she saw life leaving it.

She flew away because she could not bear it,

She flew back because she could help it.

She saw the cause of all this sadness.

An enormous tree, spreading its branches,

Its branches spread all over the space, covering the sun,

inhibiting everything this poor fellow needed to smile again.

And as the sun rose that morning,

She flew to a branch and made way for the sun to pass through.

In her sweat, she inhaled and pushed the branches away.

He felt it, he felt hope

Something was happening,

Life was happening.

Strength was coming upon him,

He was standing, he was trying,

Then it was gone.

Looking around, he saw nothing,

For a minute, there was hope,

In another, there was darkness.

The bird flew away because the sun was gone,

But she had another plan.

Looking at himself, he was no more.

Petals drop daily and timely,

Sleep eluded him for everyday is dark.

People take the piss at him,

Even the ants dump their food at his root.

Then he saw all of them,

In that darkness, he heard all of them.

Flock of birds, all perching on a branch,

The sunray coming through over their head,

Hitting him like electricity,

Jolting him straight up,

so much better than photosynthesis.

The fear of death all swept away,

The tears of fear all wiped away,

The garment of death all torn away,

The smile of hope is worn again.

Every morning before the sunrise, they perch,

Giving way for the sun to rise on me,

Giving way for me to stand again,

Giving way for me to live again.

Once brown, now green,

Once dying, now alive,

Once broken, now whole,

Once alone,now surrounded.

My Romance with Nature

What you give in, you get back

What you do not give, you do not get back.

In between my sleep and my waking i do not know what happens

But when i open my eyes i know that  nature has done it again.

I cannot really say how i wake up or what wakes me up,

But i know that when i hear the bird chirping, it is time to wake up.

I go to the park everymorning to jog, and before i do, i inhale all the air i can

And as i jog, i keep inhaling the oxygen made so abundant by the trees.

These trees that bend but do not break, the trees that are ever so generous

Because we let them breath, they let us breathe.

I go around the park a few times and i never miss the squirells as they run away from me,

And the pack of birds as they fly away as i approach..

I begin to wonder what did i do to be mis trusted?

I go back home and i open my windows because my room temperature is lower than my body,

And again i am swept away by the pure breeze i get, just because car drivers clean up after their cars

I have my bath and off i go to school, to unlearn and learn again.

The sky is blue and the clouds look like they are moving,

The sun is shining and it is so hot, i guess that is why it is called summer

But it is not called summer in Nigeria, neither do we have winter.

We do not have a lot of things but we do have so many things

We have the trees, the birds, the landscape, the resources, the....

but why is the weather so hot at home?

Is it because 5 out of 5 cars have exhaust pipes that spread exhaust fumes

Exhaust fumes that go up into the sky and reduce the fragile layer of the sun,

Exhaust fumes that make me cough and wish i had a car with A.C,

Exhaust fumes that others inhale and are bed ridden because of the dangerous air

Exhaust fumes that affect my eyes, until i start crying against my own will.

Exhaus fumes that could have been avoided...

The environment is my home and i run away from it...

As i run along the road, i see smoke from a heap

Heap of something that is often called rubbish,

And this heap happens to be located in front of a house

I see a man fan it to make it burn faster

As he wipes his eyes with his hand, and blows his nose with his cloth

I see some kids leave a room to come out and get some air,

As they cannot breath properly because their colourless air has become black.

I begin to wonder what happened to recycling?

The process of turning rubbish into something good

Why do we burn our rubbish, and then suffer for it,

When we can recycle our rubbish and enjoy from it?

Is it ignorance again?

Isn’t it funny how the trees are there to take away the air that we can’t breath,

And we find more than one way to make their work harder?

How much can they take away?

How much can they not take away?

Maybe they could take more, if we stop cutting them down,

Maybe they could take more if we learn to plant more and burn less,

Just maybe?

I decide to do a summary and here it goes:

I open my eyes and the world is empty,

Not of people but of it clothes..

It stands naked, not only because it has been raped

It receives no fair trail..as the judge is the culprit..

No birds, because there are no trees to build a nest

No clouds because the athmosphere has been stolen

I step out and i cannot see because i am blinded by the sun

Mercilessly burning down without control,

I cannot breath because there is no oxygen,

All the trees have gone..long gone into ashes

I cannot do anything, even as simple as breathing

I cannot walk futher as i am sunburned

I run back into my second home,

And i do not know how long i will be accepted,

As my first home, Nature has kicked me out,

Only because i did not respect its needs.

If only,

If only i had put off all my appliances to save energy,

If only i had stopping burning my rubbish outside,

If only i had told my boss to recycle ,

If only i had told my company to reduce its emission

If only i had being against the clearing of the rain forest

If only i covered my pot while cooking

If only i tried to plant a tree

If only i tried to reduce my waste

If only i drove carefully and do not waste fuel

If only i ensured my tyres were properly inflated

If only i tried to protest...

My original home has rejected me,

Where will i be buried when i die?

The bird chirping that make me get up have stopped,

What will happen when i close my eyes?

My artficial house cannot survive for long

My natural home i have killed,

I have no place to roam,

I have no place to call home....