THE KING, THE THRONE, THE BELLY AND THE ENGINES...

 

THE SAMURAI 

OLAYINKA SAMSON AREMU (THE SAMURAI)'S 2026 BRILLIANCE SHINE SO BRIGHT ALL THROUGH THIS POWERFUL PIECE. SEE BELOW:

Can You Wear my Shoes?

My eyes have borne things that I don't like

but I don't get offended,

I don't judge you, and I won't until I go through what you are going through.

But why do you judge me?

Why refuse to bounce away your eyeballs from the wall of the limelight that's blinding you from seeing the gross of darkness behind?

Why can't you take the torch of your thinking and flash into my darkness?

Can you wield my storms?

when the tempest comes tossing and your anchor can not hold anymore,

Can you keep rowing, 

                                    and rowing, 

                                          and rowing?

Can you pluck sleep 

from the roof under 

which I was built? 

Can you knit pillows from my piles of emotions and demons?

With the hydra-headed monster of pain and the hunger that holds me within but draws the caricature of a strong and happy man on my face? 

Firstly, can you be me for a second?

Don't you see that I'm like Borno, 

Borno, burning inside with my insecurities,

Lowered by the empty bosom, where self-esteem once blossomed?

Failures from the past that's hunting the present.

Anxieties and regrets that still suckle from the navel of my soul,

That keeps turning and turning time and again!

I wear weaknesses within my DNA,

My fears and flaws floor me.

Can you be in my head?

Can you be me instead?

Can you ponder on what I'm pondering?

Wandering in the wilderness of fear

Of what may, 

Of what may not and what if it's not everything I dream they will be

Different memories from different places bubbling away in my head, mixing into a pungent vinegar of self-blame!

Thoughts that are as deep as seven oceans

Beneath which one can find death...

Can you dive into my depth and not drown?

In my depth, I cry for help when no one is listening,

With the demon of doubt depriving me of deep determination that once dwelt within me.

Almost drowning in the deep sea of depression... 

And I only swim better than concrete slabs!

I don't know if I'm as living as I look,

Or if I'm looking as I live.

Do you know how hard it hits to be me?

The head is the King of the body

the neck is its throne

the belly houses the engines

but all of them; the king, the throne, the belly and the engines, are not too heavy for the feet to carry.

Can your feet carry my body?

Can you shoulder my burden?

Seeing, they say is believing but the truth depends on your point of view.

So, before you clad your mouth with an athletes gear and run it,

Could you at least walk a day in my shoes?

And see if you'd not be shooed?

Before you point at someone’s torn clothes, make sure you’re not putting on ripped jeans.