The Residue from a Sorrowed Life
A poem
I had the elegance of Heaven furnishing
the spaces of my soul, and my existence
was backed by a pantheon of venerated
gods making me a stranger to scarcity and
absent from beggary wants.
The habit of my charm flushed the skies
with starry, speckled brilliance and the
constellations funnelled their favour down
into the treasure trove domiciled in my heart.
I went with the superfluity of affluence and
my winding path was layered with cream,
butter and all spice for the honour of the
eminent. My ascension clasped the culmination
of gold with noble, prestigious royalty.
The jurisdiction behind cosmic spaces
bolstered my pride by sending a plenitude
of warring, angelic forces so I was endorsed
with strength in the realms of men. I made
diamonds my daily staple, and silver — an
item commonplace.
Sizzling, vivacious belles of the earth clustered
for the crumbs dropping from my fragmented
generosities and I did all that made my benevolence
the utmost thrill in paradise.
But now I bleed in vicinities allotted to
vagabonds, ousted with kicks by shoes of
misery. I’m acquainted with a gruelling,
laborious grind — vacillating from agony to
more wrecking agony as peace remains a mirage.
I had the extravagance of wealth on
propensities for much riveting influence
but now I meet parsimonious hands that
won’t lend, bragging of the oddity to be
mean and penny-pinching.
The sun is a mocker and I’m a spectacle in
settings thrilled to laugh. The hands of a
Grinch feed me obnoxious rations and I’m
battered for possessing a penurious purse.
Havoc finds me with a steady pace and no
matter how much I try to reify charming
imaginings, squalor will always be pleased
to bite. I’ve had a hard, plunging fall from
grace, now I’m fractured to cleave for alms.
My tears roll with traumatic heat and I’m
mugged with all impoliteness and crass
impudence. I see where colours fade and
the joy of the stars murder. I’m in ashes with
the residue from a sorrowed life.
© Valentine Nnebe 2023
All Rights Reserved
