Grow Beards And Become The Sun
When mother says I'm her future,
The giant star at the end of her tunnel.
I tell her, if my light would stain the darkness all depends on my beards.
This is what we are learning in the university; the first and best.
You need enough beards to become a light;
To become fire;
To become sun gleam that glints into dark tunnels.
Father sells his sweat for my tuition fees,
I tell him to spend wisely.
There are plenty beards to buy to make one a man.
And our Professors say you don't talk, Pray, appease the gods or put your buckets out in the rain,
Unless you have enough beards.
They say you don't walk with your legs;
You don't look at the rainbow or hide away from the whirlwind,
Unless you have enough beards.
And this is enough research work for an inaugural lecture, Professors.
Aren't you seeing it?
Today, the Imam beside our Church buys the farm,
I tell Jubril not to inherit his hoes or garments,
But Shave clean his forest of beards and buy us a voice; a light; identity
and future.
You say taking to the street was unpolished; barbaric and vulgar,
When you don't even know the story; at least from our own telling.
Our parents break bones and barf out black blood tilling for shillings,
Enough to pay for our identity and give us a voice.
The Professors take our broken dirty bowls
And add them to their museums of glinting golds.
We then tell them to define us,
To label us,
To give us ourselves;
Our identity that we pay for.
But they say we need beards to talk.
We need beards to come near,
To smell their body odour
And see their expensive shits.
They say we need plenty of beards,
To make them see more than our silhouettes.
Now mother, I have stopped studying,
Our VC says knowledge is in books no more
Father, I have stopped working hard,
Our Professors say success isn't in hard work anymore.
But don't worry,
Our future shall be bright.
I'm growing mustaches already
And looking around for plenty beards.
Because here in the first and best Nigerian university,
You only need enough beards to become a light; a voice and a man.
You only need enough beards and
Perhaps, a balded head to look at the Rainbow, and take your buckets out in the rain.
©Segun Michael.
When mother says I'm her future,
The giant star at the end of her tunnel.
I tell her, if my light would stain the darkness all depends on my beards.
This is what we are learning in the university; the first and best.
You need enough beards to become a light;
To become fire;
To become sun gleam that glints into dark tunnels.
Father sells his sweat for my tuition fees,
I tell him to spend wisely.
There are plenty beards to buy to make one a man.
And our Professors say you don't talk, Pray, appease the gods or put your buckets out in the rain,
Unless you have enough beards.
They say you don't walk with your legs;
You don't look at the rainbow or hide away from the whirlwind,
Unless you have enough beards.
And this is enough research work for an inaugural lecture, Professors.
Aren't you seeing it?
Today, the Imam beside our Church buys the farm,
I tell Jubril not to inherit his hoes or garments,
But Shave clean his forest of beards and buy us a voice; a light; identity
and future.
You say taking to the street was unpolished; barbaric and vulgar,
When you don't even know the story; at least from our own telling.
Our parents break bones and barf out black blood tilling for shillings,
Enough to pay for our identity and give us a voice.
The Professors take our broken dirty bowls
And add them to their museums of glinting golds.
We then tell them to define us,
To label us,
To give us ourselves;
Our identity that we pay for.
But they say we need beards to talk.
We need beards to come near,
To smell their body odour
And see their expensive shits.
They say we need plenty of beards,
To make them see more than our silhouettes.
Now mother, I have stopped studying,
Our VC says knowledge is in books no more
Father, I have stopped working hard,
Our Professors say success isn't in hard work anymore.
But don't worry,
Our future shall be bright.
I'm growing mustaches already
And looking around for plenty beards.
Because here in the first and best Nigerian university,
You only need enough beards to become a light; a voice and a man.
You only need enough beards and
Perhaps, a balded head to look at the Rainbow, and take your buckets out in the rain.
©Segun Michael.
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