MY UNCLE’S CHILDREN

He never knew these beautiful children existed
Not even the wind carried their native names
Your face wore a screen over eighteen moons
A spinster who knew incredibly little about men
Just out of a broken friendship with one Charles

Those who had eyes saw clearly through the veil
Hatched secret plans of freedom to evict the sham
Futile, their attempts, his love for you, the barrier
Some women are married to wars, like Helen of Troy
Women of Owu suffered from wanton war of love

To cover tracts, places of stay were scheduled
Owned residence in Ota, a brother’s place in Ikoyi
And later, Madam Mentor’s, a mother truly in need
These explained those moments of imposed absence
Lonely, he waited in love, pitiably depressed at home

The decline set in chains of cyclical misfortunes
Taking their tolls, while he took the heat bye and bye
Loosing grip on his family and home, exacerbated
By loses from volatile jobs and without a fall-back
Ota beckons; helpless, he took a grip on the line

My brother brought these children here by himself
The father, my uncle, is on posting at the city centre
They will soon join him, the mother comes often
Shuttling with the arrangements to move the house
Pity, these children, they need care, they need love

Ostensible caller, unknown, contrived to unmasked
Revealed a wife and a mother, parading as unattached
Her husband, an officer of the law, locked up in jail
For bump off charges, covered as strayed projectile
The scale fell off the eyes and cleared the apparition

Those months of crippling deceits and lies, explained
The orchestrated pilfering games of rat and mouse
Your finger pointed at those who knew your game
In order to further vilify their steep in stealing spree
A pot bent on calling a kettle black, smeared with oil