Creative Arena

WE ARE BORN DIVIDED The oceans are not only the marks of separation The colour of our skins tells it all Blacks, Whites and Coloureds Will seek a common ground Only on the platform of unreconcilable histories We are born into this world divided And we will leave it so Black brothers unified by one ancestral origin Are brutal enemies because of religion Members of one sacred congregation Are rivals for their political allegiance Passion blunts the ties of blood We are not and never can be one No twins are born the same We are born into this world divided And we will leave it so © Olatuja Oloyede Pen Panther www.instagram.com/oloyede001

BEYOND THE LIFE WE KNOW Too many wonders assail our mortal days Too many unanswered questions in one simple life The fear of death and the want of life The triumph of evil in every storms Somewhere down the history lane The order of this life was rewritten Now, busy highways are death trap The paradise we had in the woods of infancy Is now the palace of hoodlums The festival of love we treasured at dawn Is now a show of shame This flame; our tears cannot quench It wasn't my voice you heard The nights had drown my pleas of truth And my whispers of reason had fallen Like the rotten nuts of the hills Waste is the wait for the promised rain This is home of demons Life is beyond the life we know © Olatuja Oloyede Pen Panther

LIFE IS A FRAGILE LITTLE THING When life is done and all is over The beautiful sunshine And the refreshing rain will be no more Life loses it holds and all fears are gone At the dry beckons of death They will cry so hard But they won't share the grave with the dead The news will spread like the winter flame All that hears will sigh and say “Life indeed is meaningless ” But none will share the grave with the dead Life is a fragile little thing It should be handled with care All the troubles that come with it Ends and ends forever at death When life is done and all is over The beautiful sunshine And the refreshing rain will be no more Life loses it holds and all fears are gone At the dry beckons of death © Olatuja Oloyede Pen Panther

THE GREATEST THREAT I am the lion untamed my the forest gods The path beyond unbroken seas And the winding gate to all eternity I am the sticky tears of the unfortunate boy The marauding terror of every night And the greatest threat to thrones and powers I am the beast lurking in dark shadows With an entourage of demons And a company of unnumbered angels I am sent to God to bless the cursed And sent of devil to curse the blessed I am master to the living And a slave to the dead I am DEATH The ultimate destiny of all © Olatuja Oloyede

IF YOU CROSS THE TWILIGHT HILLS When you walk the dirty village roads Listen to the noise of kids in the field Picking crickets and hunting squirrels In those simple things Is love and perfect security If you cross the twilight hills In search of snails in company of friends When you join the clatters of children in the river Or under the night moon at the feet of the elders Listen to the tales of wisdom In these simple things Is love and perfect security Mourn the noise of automobiles and airplanes Weep for the big and busy city Where the boys are killed and girls rapped The craze that came with western wind Robbed us of our ancestral pride And we are all victims of its darkness © Olatuja Oloyede Pen Panther www.instagram.com/oloyede001 www.oloyede.com.ng

PART OF THE ULTIMATE DESIGN You see, in life We don't always have what we wanted It is the ultimate design So we keep readjusting to every tide The wind will blow away the beautiful sunshine Our kneels will bruise against the slates We will flaw, fail and fall This too is part of the ultimate design But if we refuse to fight when the darkness gather If we fail to stand when our dreams vanish If we get complacent in the haven of mediocrity We have done ourselves a grave injustice That even eternity cannot pardon © Olatuja Oloyede Pen Panther www.instagram.com/oloyede001

DEAR AUGUST Dear August, I've come again to your door step To the threshold of unexplored days I can hear the sound of abundant rain The floods are coming Yet, it won't wash my tears off to the sea Dear August, In my fading dawn I ask of you Lead me closer to my dreams Let me conquered the summer rain That I may ask my wrinkled mother one day What else do you need And she will look up and smile Saying “son, you've made me so proud” Dear August, Come with days sagging with life Come with moment burdened with laughter Lead me closer to my dreams © Olatuja Oloyede Pen Panther www.instagram.com/oloyede001

TAKE THE SCARS OF MY FLAWS FROM ME I was the gay little kid Dancing in the rain The happy frail thing Basking in yellow sunshine But on this hill of years I shed the shells of innocence In this market place of youthful adventures I trade the treasures of infancy Sinking unhindered My torch is burning out Drowning in this flooding darkness Lead me back to the cradle light Where life is simply beautiful Take the scars of my flaws from me Make me a child once again © Olatuja Oloyede Pen Panther www.instagram.com/oloyede001

This night as I stared long into the dark starry sky And feel the cold moon gliding towards silence I found in that untroubled hour like a nested bird Answers of my many years of running I know why the darkness in my heart remains I know why the devils are on my trail I know why tomorrow feels so long I know why I stumble so hard many times I know why my heart is broken right now I am one of those stars hanging in the clouds And I need the darkness to burn bright I need to be lost to seek the true redemption I need a castle in the valley to sour above the hills This day I've read the signs of time And I will teach my child the same For in it we sometimes find perfect directions © Olatuja Oloyede Pen Panther www.instagram.com/oloyede001

LET ME BE ME AND I WILL BE FREE Pass me the oar and I will captain my sail Farther and farther away must I go From this fog gathering in my soul Give me wings and I will fly Higher and higher beyond my own clouds of doubts Never to return again to this lowlands of mortals worries The screams of life is driving me crazy Here I am dying and no one cares How can I be all you want me to be I mean the perfect angel and the flawless fiery I can't ride back through the meadow of time To the land of beautiful beginnings That place where all of me can be unmade I can't be reborn, can't you see? Just let me be me and I will be free © Olatuja Oloyede Pen Panther www.instagram.com/oloyede001

LUXURY BEYOND THE DEAD At death, it won't matter how long we lived But how well life on earth was spent Trampling upon the heads of the powerless Breaking the shoulders of the orphans Ruining the trust of friends All in the quest of survival Yet when at last we place our hands Upon the knob of eternal silence We will look back at life and see nothing Some will desire to go back in time And make right their every wrongs But forgiveness is one luxury The dead cannot afford A troubled conscience never dies Its pangs might be suppressed in flesh It must unleash it venom at death So hold my hands my friends Let us live our simple lives without war Let us dance to the unbroken rhythm of love The smiles and warm embrace we share down here Will outlive the grave © Olatuja Oloyede Pen Panther 🌍  www.oloyede.com.ng 🌍  www.instagram.com/oloyede001

As the day bring forth another dawn of a glorious beginning. I pray the Almighty for shame and reproach to be far away from you and your family. Today; the next 365days and beyond, the gate that leads to happiness will not be closed against you.  Happy birthday and God bless you richly! For a birthday gift, may it be *Grace for a new glory!* It's our delight that we have you to work with and we are grateful to God for your presence, On behalf of myself, my family and all of us at Creative Arena, we celebrate with you and wish you a very happy birthday, our own *Dear Pen Panther* Creatively yours, Bayo F. For: Admin, CA.

* If the end of the road be bright That bend may be dark if it will When we lurk in gloom valleys Searching for life and meaning We must  wear around our sagging necks A string of hope like a golden wand Knowing that sun will rise at dawn The storm must come around a gentle sail More foes less friends We don't have to back down in every fog Great men go the extra mile that all dread to walk Even at the uneasy fringes of their end They still refuse to die like men You can't always tell why things go wrong But the best you can do is not only sigh You've got  to brave the flames at times If the end of the road be bright That bend may be dark if it will © Olatuja Oloyede Pen Panther Instagram: @oloyede001 🌏 www.oloyede.com.ng

A BETRAYAL If I wake to the rattling whispers of cobra Or to the unwanted summons of death I might dance with touches of freedom For my world is perfect without you A betrayal!! I will make a pact with the rovers of the wild And tango with a monsters of the sea Than to share the same life with you A betrayal Trust for you was fine at first  Until that part of me was  crushed Your wickedness will unseat the devil in his whims A betrayal!! I never knew those laughter we shared Were all part of your big plans to pull me down I won't have opened my heart so wide If I knew you had a knife to rip me apart A betrayal!!!!!! Somewhere, someone sings your praise Until they realise what beast you are How you've mastered the craft of lies A betrayal I weighed you on a balance Like a measure pressed and shaken Checked you on a scale If you will ever know redemption But NO!! You are a chaff in the wind Blown and flourished awhile  Then gone forever into the dust of shame A betrayal!!!! ©

Part 3 of 5 From that sad unknown depth  Where he had drowned so much In the wreckages of his broken mind He found life He was dying and he knew that The next moment might be his last But something strange is looming inside of him Like a spark in the winter field A flame is rekindled within his bones The strong will to fight the enemy that will always win Death is coming And he knew this Yet, he won't give in without a fight Life is beautiful and worth a living Just that it comes with some twists that entangles He will live for his mother The one whose back had bore the burdens of his childhood The hand that tended his head with love The only shelter he once had in the dangerous street Surviving is only way to repay her For all the tragedies she briefly brave He will find his way to the God of his mother too He knew not which path that led To that mystery enclouded beyond the sky Neither had he ever listened to his mother When she bothered him about Great One But his heart year

TRAILING IN THE SHADOW Part 2 of 5 His mind wandered back  To the simple days of childhood When he once loved life and I feared death He can't say if it was a trance or a dream But he was sure he saw her His mother came to him under that tree She was the only true love he ever knew She stood over him Not in her usual rags That one she wore the day he was born That same one she wore labouring at dirty jobs In the houses of rich notorious fools That one she wore when the trailer ran over her When she was hurrying over to pick them from school When she met her untimely death The love and struggles of the mother Will all the wealth of this world compensate that? It was the saddest day of his life He has lived with the guilt ever since But the redemption he sought from the street Had hastened him down to his own hell Under that tree she came to him again This time looking radiant and happier Not too many things has changed about her though She still had that girlish look and tiny un

TRAILING IN THE SHADOWS Part 1 of 5 Walking down the busy street Forgetting the scorching sun And the hot breeze of the hour He was bathed in his sweat His heart was beating fast His world is finally falling apart Holding lifelessly to a letter His death sentence actually The long awaited test is finally out And he tested negative This street that has been his only home from birth Has suddenly became a strange place He knew he has been lost in its darkness for so long Like his deceased brother He has been a victim too Deep down inside of him He never loved being a street rogue A tree beckoned from the other side of the road He's been walking for 2 hours now He has no home and no loved one to return to So he's just going to walk to his death But there is something about the tree It's looks like a good spot to die hanging So he went over to sit under its shed Not to rest as we seldom do at dusk Of what use is that luxury to a dying man There he pondered over how best to l