FRANCIS OTOLE

 

Heaven And Hell

 

I have been inside the fiery furnace of hell

I have walked the golden street of heaven

Hell is no place but a woman’s harms

Heaven is nowhere but a woman’s arms.

 

Colour Blindness

 

You searched through my colour

And found no single honour?

Such simple sight errors

Is the greatest terror.

SERVICE OF THE DEAD

I went to the graveyard

To ask if my brother has risen

And the undertaker asked

‘Is there a departed who ever wished to return?

In all my years of the service of the dead

I have never seen nor heard of one.

Bidding farewell to sojourners,

 You mortals overwhelm yourselves in tears

That you don’t see the smiles on their faces.

You should know,

Through watery eyes images seem broken’.

MILESTONES

I’ve always wonder

What are those monuments

In every town and city:

Urban and rural

Of bones beneath stones

Of the bold lying cold

 

To feed my curiosity

I took a look closer

At the descriptions and inscriptions

And I realized

They are milestones of human existences.

 

Metaphor Of The Rainbow

 

When God looked down and saw

How mankind is investing in war;

The perpetrated horrors

In the struggle for supremacy among colors

He lined the sky with rainbow

That when mankind lifts her eyebrow

She will behold the beauty with merge of colors

Maybe it will help to quench the horrors.

 

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