In this poem, Richard Inya bemoans the piteous fate of pensioners – men and women who spend their years working to better the society only to be treated like worthless beings at old age.
An armed revolution
Rages against quietness
In the belly of starving retirees
Their intestines are trapped snakes
Struggling to break loose
Ever seen they that chew silence
And swallow air?
Pity is a bucketful of a minute silence
Harvested from the bosom of caretakers
Waiting to cast oration on graveyards
Promises sway despair
Vain promises are faecal stuffs
From the anus of bloated talks
This path is not far from mass murder
Another has just fallen whose statue
will never make it into the square
II
At the tail of service
Is a houseful of ghosts
Echoes and questions
Should I go or should I stay?
What if tomorrow doesn’t come
Or hunger lifts me away like a hawk?
Fifty something is allergic to jokes on age
Trepidation begets rejuvenation
In the enclave of browning records
Manipulation hands out extra years
To faces ripe to vacate the facade of duty
Retirement songs echo the sounds of war with self
The sphere of service is a mountain village
Every swift leap or brisk walk awaits accounting
When age meets with the year of reckoning
III
Giant hawks prey on pension funds
Hawks are rock-hearted caretakers
Nay, lions watching over aged sheep
Out in the cold the old queue
The lot of veterans exalts beggars
And sets the feet of the fledgling
On the path of wanton thievery
The piteous lot of pensioners
Is the offence of tribesmen
The offence of tribesmen isn’t offensive
Tongues and tribal marks settle scores
Wellbeing of the aged is the Holy Grail
The search for this is endless
Arthritis accompanies spent legs
On their way to another round of verification
There shall be more and more roll calls
Until more names fly with the hawks
Richard Inya is a Nigerian poet and short story writer. His works have been adopted for use in over eight states in Nigeria. Apart from his literary engagements, he works at the Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo, Ebonyi State. He is the Chairman, Ebonyi State Branch of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). He writes and writes and writes.
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