The Test of Time
On the line of life I toe
Swallowing the breathlessness that has so overwhelmed me
Dreading the roaring tongues of the flames beneath
That lick the soles of my feet
I stagger
I steady
In rhythm with the drumming of some heathen spirit
That dwells between my eyes
But whose voice calls from the well of hell
To defile my values that shields the task in my grasp
To keep on the tempest in my mind
That makes my eyes ripple and waver in the surge
To make me let go
And fall in its embrace
Cells of Feat
My feet tremble
And my skin echoes in their thud
Heavy studded metal grids meant for gods
Seclude me in my own company
Amidst friends of my feat
Those that offer me linens of love and gold
Which override my place
My place is in the streets
In the corridors of beggars
Where the fragrance of my life
Is not infested with public butterflies
Where the scents of threadbare garments
And putrid marshlands
Wash the walls of my soul.
Nnamani Chiemerie
Nnamani Okenwa Chiemerie, presently a law student, was born in Enugu in 1994. His work has previously been published in the Sentinel Nigeria Magazine and the Mixrhythm journal. He has a published collection of poetry titled THE SUNSET.
