by Okanlawon Steven
On the dusty old path
He subconsciously swayed home
In the darkest hour of the night,
The moon hung up high
While the whole village slept
He pounded on his door, ‘’…that witch has locked me out again!”
The door flung open
With a “welcome” from his lad
“Oh no! Papa is drunk again!”
“Where is everyone?”
“Where is my food?”
“Where is that witch and why did she lock the door?”
He thundered the compound awake
It was surely going to be a long night
They stared piteously at one another
Each one with several scars, born on days like this
“Whose turn would it be today? For papa is drunk again.”
“You dare serve me a cold meal, even the soup is too salted’’
‘’All this after locking me out, you witch…”
He pounced on his poor wife,
Pummelling his words into her
There stood the entire household,
Watching helplessly as the children cry
Who dare approach him in his paroxysm?
The children ran to their neighbours
“Please help, Papa is drunk again!”
Wailing, weeping and shouting raped the atmosphere’s serenity
Only a nosy neighbour came in,
Not to help but to watch
Others did not find it new
But it was not like other episodes,
This time he snuffed life out of his wife,
Neighbours regretted they didn’t help
And the children remained at his mercy,
Forever to say, “Papa is drunk again.”
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Okanlawon Steven is a fresh sociology graduate of the prestigious University of Ibadan. He likes reading, writing, making friends, swimming, reading and more reading. I have written more than 90 poems, countless articles and about 5 short stories.
30 Days, 30 Voices series is an opportunity for young Nigerians from across the world to share their stories and experiences – creating a meeting point where our common humanity is explored.
Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija
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