IN GRIEF FOR MY COUNTRY
By Shalom Chidueme
Find
Me
A burrowing bird
Courage on my wings,
Singing my sorrow into the sunlight.
Hold me
A candle
For all the places
I've burned.
When you've dined with grief
An eulogy takes the form of a ringtone
And you sing, and you sing
And you desensitise death.
In my country, a girl dies
Guilty of living.
They say she woke up
Oblivious that the law would steal her breath
This is how my country says
I will clip your wings
This is how my sorrow says
I will outlive your dreams
In my hands are all the fear I have known
I carry it with me
Into every bus, every alley
Every place that reeks of
Broken dreams.
Find me,
A miracle in reverse
An attempt to flee
An attempt to outlive grief.
In my country
I am food for stray bullets
In another man's country
I am a recipe for disaster
Find me, here
Alive
Drowning
Dying by the hands that swore
To protect me
Find me
A voice.
I carry the sorrow of all the voices
That got drowned in this country.
Find
Me
A burrowing bird
Courage on my wings,
Singing my sorrow into the sunlight.
Hold me
A candle
For all the places
I've burned.
When you've dined with grief
An eulogy takes the form of a ringtone
And you sing, and you sing
And you desensitise death.
In my country, a girl dies
Guilty of living.
They say she woke up
Oblivious that the law would steal her breath
This is how my country says
I will clip your wings
This is how my sorrow says
I will outlive your dreams
In my hands are all the fear I have known
I carry it with me
Into every bus, every alley
Every place that reeks of
Broken dreams.
Find me,
A miracle in reverse
An attempt to flee
An attempt to outlive grief.
In my country
I am food for stray bullets
In another man's country
I am a recipe for disaster
Find me, here
Alive
Drowning
Dying by the hands that swore
To protect me
Find me
A voice.
I carry the sorrow of all the voices
That got drowned in this country.
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BIO:
Shalom Chidueme is a first class graduate of political science and international relations from Crawford university. Shalom might just be the most curious person you have ever met, she is a writer who often finds herself struggling with the weight of other people's emotions, she is a philanthropist and a strong believer in the ability of kindness to heal the world. Her works have been featured on Green Black Tales, Crawford university magazine 2nd and 3rd edition and more. You can find her on Instagram @ shalomm_m and on Twitter @ Shalommm3 |
