"This same place where out path did cross
We will meet again
There and then 
We shall drink the liquor of lust
Down to the dreg will they roll down your naive throat
I, even I will make you a man"

The hour had just taken a puzzling twist
Yet she left "unbothered" by my confusions

Have I come to serve my father's land
Or am I at the devil's table
Where the lots of the world was once traded
Which way leads home
When on earth can man say he is truly free

O, the horror of my first night
The burdened bones
The wreckages of an oppressed heart
The cold turned flesh
The drained bottles at the feet
Of masters of broken homes
The flakes of consumed cigarettes
The lust in the eyes of strangers
The friendship the world had offered
My presence in this gully of death

Still I stood perplexed awhile
Should I just go down the windy way of hell
And see the horizons
The treasures of those addicted to its chains
Or should I follow my pilgrimage route
The path where my soul had found rest indeed?
Sometimes in life
I sit at this crossroads
Wondering which way is best an adventure for a young man.


I looked at my boss with his emptied bottles
Three bottles vanished before his lips
Yet he still enjoys the long dance
in the deserted hall of addiction

"Sir, I'm tired
Where will I sleep tonight?"

"Emmy, relax
I will soon be done
We shall soon be going home"

And not until the bar is deserted 
Not until the last singing bird 
Had kissed the sky goodnight
Not until silence descended upon the world
Exposing even strained whispers
Not until night arrived in her full fretful stature
That this man could realise
That long had been my journey
Across the Niger to the banks of Benue
And my weary bones must rest

Once again we hit the road
His rickety bike rend the night of her crown of silence
Strip the witchy hour of her garment of peace
A thundering cry from a frustrated bike

The fear that a drunk man rides that thing
Upon which I'm boarded
Filled me with gooseflesh rather than the thrills of its speed
I feared we might crash on the harmattan harden soil
Or overturned by unconscious recklessness
Into the bottom of a canal
Or at least missed home
For as you may well know
That to a drunk man
Everywhere, anywhere and no where is home

For the heart often fear beyond necessary
It is that part of our lives that keeps us alive
As I alighted from his rough drive
A ease of relief escaped through my nostril

He showed me my room for the night
And welcome me to his home

My head had suffered the fate 
Of a drum in the hands of many a heartless drummer
My legs are weak like though I had travelled on a shores of ice
But at last 
All my weariness I can lay to rest
Although the night at been sandwiched
With encounters with beasts and beings
The bed, this bed
Will be my comfort
And redeemed all my exhausted nerves.

In peace I lay me down
Soon I was fast at sleep
And the raging day came to a noiseless calm

Stay connected for part 5

© Olatuja Oloyede