My Own Business


Abeg no spoil my business with your business biko.

Shebi dem say two birds fit fly for sky and fight no go show?

Na my only way be this

Hawking na my business.

My business earns me praises, ego, kudi and owó.

I no wan hear corona abi coro.

 

I'm a laudable, yet hopeless hawker in sweltering sun,

a broken vessel of no value,

inhabitant of penury with crystal clue,

dogged peddler come rain come sun,

prisoner in my own home,

isolated with punctured promises of palliatives.

 

Release me to feed my needs.

Carry your wahala go with your COVID business

feeding from my overflowing perspiration,

taking bread and water under a jealous sunlight.

Rain and sun tortured me but I live daily to cater for my children.

If I die, my children die, but my being alive keeps them alive.

 

The government's order fed us with hunger.

Who am I to defy government's order?

Ordinary fugitive of a virus, powerless than hunger.

I'm poor but don't want to be poorer,

the heartbeat of the rich for this virus dey louder.

Poor man problem na only hunger.

 

Wetin I need na hope to restore my hope wey don die.

No talk say make I no sell my market if your plan fit make person die.

I go put my yansh for house

If you sef go share wetin we know say e go reach us.

Nothing kills faster than hunger,

But who am I to defy government's order?

 

 

_____

Akinbi Oluwarotimi is a Nigerian writer and poet. He is presently a student at Adeyemi College of Education (ACE), Ondo, Ondo State of Nigeria. He is a member of The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Mindstriking poets (MSP) Adeyemi chapter in Ondo State. He is also a fellow at WritenowLit and other writing associations. His poems have recently appeared and are forthcoming in the Association of Nigerian Author's anthology. Akinbi can be found on Twitter @Akinbioluwarot1


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