by Amanda McLeod
A Night in Hell
I got home late last night
With my boots painted with mascaras of the streets
And my heels bowing to the gethsemane mile it trekked.
My eyes could only sing the sweet bad song of pain
As each strands of my hair wilted like a corn leaf in harmattan.
Mother’s pots lay fallow in the far corner
Weeds of cockroaches has made that their abode
Worms bit my bowels in death stung
As thunders of hunger strolled across it —
It was a night in hell.
Father’s ailing sounds hit my ears like a dirge of the gods
Like a corpse in the mortuary —
My home pleads breath
Breath of light
Breath of life
Breath of freedom from these coupled chains of dark clouds.
I looked into the mirror so I could have myself a companion
But all I saw was a man with droplets of blood
And eyes written with gore
All I saw was a man dying before death come crying—
A rebel of hope and life—
That’s my fate.
Ajani Samuel Victor known with his pseudonym “fab_du_solvic”, is a writer, poet, and author who hails from the Pacesetter state in Nigeria. He currently studies Physiology at the University of Lagos. His poems have been flagged on different literary websites and social media platforms. Driven by a zeal to make the world a better abode, he never ceases to make friends through his works in a bid to be in littlest the water to quench people’s thirst for betterment in life. He loves to explore, research, and positively impacts people’s life. He also loves to watch and play soccer.
Amanda McLeod is a prolific creator who will never run out of ideas. She is the author of Animal Behaviour (Chaffinch Press, 2020) and has poetry, prose and art in many places both in print and online. You can journey through her creative mind at AmandaMcLeodWrites.com