By
Noel Ihebuzor
They grabbed him by his collar
dragged him to the ocean front
shouting, gesturing and swearing,
He was boxed on both ears,
his jaws, his chin, his ribs
were bashed, bruised, some broken
all the sins of the world,
all the failures were
heaped on him,
the “sealed” wombs,
every wasted wave,
all sterile flowers
all failed erections,
every flop, all power failures,
any incontinence….
they blamed on him
At the ocean front
The sky for their witness
They screamed at him,
they cursed him, they beat him
for their own weaknesses,
their failings and his
and yet he said nothing
and his silence
soon was their proof
For silence is guilt
Silence is complicity
was his silence smart?
Broken jaws lead to silence
The heavens remain silent
on the secrets of peoples
plants and planets
Does this silence,
then make them guilty,
complicit in our pains?
in this troubled world,
some plans are so twisted,
the waves sweep them
for safe keeping
to echoless silent chambers
where ageless mammy waters
moan day time half sated
when fortune hungry fishermen visit
and to whence they retire
to sleep all night
surrounded by winking periwinkles
when worn out,
without the hoped for fortune
and overworked
fooled fishermen return home to rest
their secrets carefully wrapped in silence
and concealed from their caring wives.
Reflections 