These are excerpts from the book, “Streets & Corridors, The Untamed Narratives,” a collection of poems that offers an insightful glimpse into a world of unique struggles, aspirations, unease and fears of the everyday Nigerian
By Napoleon Esemudje
Cold Fear
Here we sit
Around the fire
Soothing our hearts
With tales of olden virtues
All with happy endings
All with definite fortunes
But the fire
Is not deceived
By our animate facade
Our giddy delusions
Our witty chatters
And blame measures
The flames
Leap before us
Baring stark naked
Our anxious premonitions
Our concealed pains
Our whispered prayers
Their scalding tongues
Strip our faces
Pulling aside the curtains
Of a weird tranquility
Exposing our doubts
Confusion and denials
A people stranded
In the rear shadow of time
Bowed by fears for their country
The insanity that became them
And the perverseness
Of their princes
All are inherent in us
And the common attribute
Is the fear of tomorrow
And the vicissitudes it brings
Lest we have no future
Napoleon Esemudje, a Chevening Scholar, is a versatile poet, storyteller, playwright, essayist, banker, management and human resources aficionado
