The Face of a Contradiction
A poem
I was punished as a loathsome, depraved spectacle and I watched in plain sight the elusiveness of hope. The days fed me caustic water and the nights pummelled my belly to retrieve it back.
My feet walked the course of abject terror and I mingled among the mundane and joyless for having no alternatives. I was juxtaposed with sorrow and despondency for the writings of fate were immensely bitter.
The turmoil of hell precipitated on my soul so I blanked out adrift on hopeless winds. Tears acidified my eye sockets making me mourn to acquire the penalty of the grave. I saw the corpse of my frisky self and the frittering of many elated days.
My prayer was to circumnavigate the perimeter of Heaven and demand an explanation for my punitive plight. But will the supremacies above take heed to the pleas of duplicitous, puny mortals?
The nights held me hostage with mutism as I staggered stupefied from the sour wine of anguish — I was laconic plummeting down dreary pits. But my harrowing trauma had me transfixed on the imminence of a modern messiah.
So I buckled my shoes like I had a mile to walk and a litany of petitions were for warheads that tore chains apart. Now I feel the garment of a saviour wrap me like the waters of an immersion.
I was penned to shudder in my descent down the abyss and arouse celebratory glee in the camp of my enemies. I was purposed to be broken beyond reparation and remedies yet I defied inevitable odds.
Laughter loves a humorous stimulus, now I giggle as an object in high triumph. I’m reticent to harbour my narrative but broadcast a myriad of ways valour is savage. I’m unflinching to press hard against my tempest and rule strong.
My contemporaries search me for evocative stories and they probe my dark recesses with keen scrutiny. I’m intrigued by the pages of war in the books of history, taking solace from the heroism of daring, fearless champions.
I hear my assailants slur my reputation, brandishing their horrifying scourge — but now I’m tempered hard for fierce battles. I transcend the script and intentions of my past as the face of a contradiction.
© Valentine Nnebe 2024
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