FRANCIS OTOLE

 

Lullaby

(for my twins: David and Daniel)

 

Sweet child

Tender and mild

Very young

And growing strong

The day is done

You’ve had your fun

You’ve had your play

It’s time to pray

The night is nippy

To make you sleepy

Sleep early tonight

To wake with might

Remember you are a star

Just the way you are

Youth that twinkle

Soon will wrinkle

Life is full of merry

Still can make you weary

Life as colourful as it seems

Is nothing but a dream

This world with many and plenty

Is a place void and empty

The world may forget how you lived

But never what you give

All of your deeds

Are but seeds

Once I was a child

And very wild

Sleep child

Tender and mild

The night is cold

Mum and dad crave to hold.

 

Sunflower

 

They wonder how what they left to wrinkle

Still shines with sparkles and twinkles

Well, the fiery eye of the ogling noon

The lambent smiles of the seductive moon

Polished with the sun's honey gloss

Treated with the moon's candy floss

I have become a sunflower

That shines through every hour.

Coveted my moon and daylight

I'll forever be a thing of delight

 

Bread And Butter

 

Like babies act on candy

Like adults react to brandy

Like fathers worry about the bills

Like mother’s hurry about the meals

Like girls are into fashion

Like boys are into passion

Like fish is meant for water

So, you and I will go like bread and butter.

 

Attire For Satire

 

To muddle

In a puddle

To take pride

For a bride

To make bribe

Your tribe

To accept greed

As creed

To steal the mandate

Of the rightful candidate

To force a selection

Against an election

To use judges

To breed grudges

Turning deaf ear

The masses cry not to hear

Turning blind eye

And only seeing 'I'

To paint truth as false

And impose it with force

To gild the outside

And rot in the inside

Is the best attire

For satire.

 

FRANCIS OTOLE

 

FRANCIS OTOLE is a Nigerian born poet and academician. A member of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and many other literary groups. He is an award-winning poet from the local and international scenes. Has been featured in magazines, journals and anthologies; locally and internationally. He is a graduate of the prestigious Benue State University and a student of life. His hobby is reading and writing. He is married with two children.