Postikum

I'm just a face in the crowd.

But I see friendships that might have been;

Smiles that would’ve smoothed out the crease on my brow.

I ease my mind into fickle wishful thinking

And let it wander where human dignity still holds a charm.

And right there, at the center of all radiance is us;

Just us two, bragging and shoving and fearing no harm.

Then reality crashes in like foam-tipped breakers on the shore;

I hear your screams rise from within a fiery grave.

I hear you yell out my name but I am M.I.A.

I see you grope with burning rage for aid that never came;

I feel the deathly heat as your lungs burst, from a distant place.

The terror gnaws at my heart and threatens to rip it out.

You thought I had your back but I'm the one who let you down.

You thrust out charred limbs and clawed at the empty air

What I had to do was grab your hand but I was not there.

I see dead people strewn like waste disposed of at a landfill;

I see young destinies six feet deep in a grave of dreams.

So I scribbled a line to you in that place I cannot yet come,

A monument of words flung up through the voice of one.

I'm just a face in the crowd.

If I’m dead to you it’s because you’re out cold;

If you’re dead to me I should hang with Shekau

How I remember you molds how my story unfolds.

Akpan