This Time

Omotayo Fatunbi

Biography: I am just a lover of nature, art, a scavenger roaming the earth in search of good painting, sculpture, music, movie, poetry; and I try as much as possible to add mine for others like me to pick up. Life is too short to achieve all my big heart wishes to, but I just want to make my little contribution before death claims me.

Omotayo Fatunbi's Profile

Omotayo Fatunbi

Friday 3 March 2023

Reflection

With my naked eyes did I peer through the blind night

True friendship, long ago being exiled

Stars out of the dark seemed to have felt my plight

As I beheld the rebirth of a boat that had once capsized.

A new hymn my spirits sings

The feelings through out my marrow swim

Together we could soar with eagle’s wings

For on marbles we did pen our psalm.

Like minds, like visions

Attitude, different, maybe

That also could be influenced through the mission

Iron that sharpeneth iron we could be.

Relfection of me through him I see

Inspiration through him like light beams

What his vision taught him about me I can’t see

Perhaps from the same source our light beams.

Omotayo Fatunbi

Friday 3 March 2023

Ode to a Step Son

This relationship we have to consolidate

For you’ve done marvelously well from beginning till date

Remember, on your first day, what I told you

“Be good to people so they’ll be good to you”

It’s lucid you’ve grown feather

But keep it low

Till the storm is o’er

And the tide is low

When the fog disappears

You may roll your wheel

Travel to wherever you will

Or spread your wings and gallantly you fly

Far away to the creatures that live in the sky

Like the moon, you shine when the sun has gone to sleep

And everyone wishes you were but a diamond they could keep

Then will I say it’s because you heed the words of the wise

And did not hardening your neck

And refer to them as lies

Now I am glad that to my expectations you’ve lived up

And that which your humble heart had learnt you would keep.

Omotayo Fatunbi

Thursday 23 February 2023

Jogodo

Seated across the railway line

Our body chemistry still responding

To the stimulation of palm wine

Together with rum in a perfect blending.

Me lighter in one hand

Me ganja in me other hand

Me getting high

While me inspiration comes from the Most High.

As me kon dey reach claro

Babylon dem show face

Na so me kon drop me claro

Boy, come see race!

The three big bottle of Guinness

Sit carelessly atop my table

Every drop, a drop of greatness

As I bury bottles under my table.

The soup is the best part

A hot plate of cat fish

That I skillfully devour

Part by part.

Soon to come is nature’s call

And all I need is a toilet

And with one finger in my throat

Half the drink with all the fish

Journeys down in one vomit.

So I squander my wealth and health

Then again at the break of dawn

Another reality to dawn on me

Is that of hangover that’ll deal with me.

#jogodo: drunkenness

Omotayo Fatunbi

Thursday 23 February 2023

A sight of scenic beauty

Searchingly the rising sun peers

Tearing through the curtain

Consciously and supposedly shy to behold the face of the mountain

Her reflection upon the calm surface of the water let out a smile

Like the distance between us is but a quarter of a mile

Enticingly she winks

Can’t hold her hurting gaze

So, constantly I blink

Fishes swim with glee

Time of the day when from their nests the birds want to flee

Trees in a rendezvous respond to the sound of the canary

Mouth agape in amazement as I watch the scenery.

Omotayo Fatunbi

Thursday 23 February 2023

A Black Sailor's Song

Atop the endless mass of this blue sea

Where only the blue sky and these endless waves my eyes can see

As I stand on the starboard and watch

Yes, i watch and wait

For this seemingly endless journey to end

Just to dock and step my soiled foot ashore

Yes my soiled foot

Buried in this bruising safety shoes

And this coverall that I had to wear

The picture of the slave ship keeps popping to mind

And the cry of my fore fathers

As they bow to the Whiteman’s whip

Feeling like a Mandingo soldier

Making it back home from the slave trade

Though in search for the green.

Omotayo Fatunbi

Wednesday 22 February 2023

The Preacher

The Preacher told me that the ultimate mission

is to buy for myself a home in heaven

So I pay the tithe without omission

And I pay the offering as a toll for the gate of heaven

Yes, I pay the seed offering

Even the first fruit offering

But I heard the preacher has built a mansion in Lekki

And bought a private jet low key

But here I sit in my bedbug infested room

In the slum of Ajegunle

Hoping my tithe and offering would build me a home in heaven.

Omotayo Fatunbi

Wednesday 22 February 2023

Before the Reaper Come

Before the heart stops

Before the sound of the hearse fill up the street

Before the pallbearers’ display

Before the grave

Before the dust

Dust to dust

Ashes to ashes

Before the tears

Before the mourning

Before the condolences

Fake and genuine

Before the tribute

Before the end

Let this star shine

Shine!

Shine bright!!

Brighter!!!

Brightest!!!!

Before the reaper comes.

Omotayo Fatunbi

Wednesday 11 November 2020

I’m Sorry My Friends

If I can’t cruise around town with you

To hunt for skimpy skirts

Jumpy jumpers and pencil trousers

Learn to forgive me, please.

If I can’t go chasing

For busty boobs and big booty

For shinny braids and glossy lips

Learn to understand with me, please.

If I can’t hang around with you

And gist deep into the night

Like it used to be in days of old

Forgive me for my change of ways.

A woman is a woman

Whether slim or fat

Tall or short

Dark or fair

I’ve got one

And that’s enough

But try to understand it’s not my fault

That the one I chose is not your taste.

© Fatunbi Omotayo

Omotayo Fatunbi

Wednesday 11 November 2020

Sowing Creed

On eagle's wing,

together we'll soar,

with tide high or low,

like boat we'll float,

since God is d wind that controls our sail,

let's spread our wings,

We cannot fail.

Dear Lord we pray,

hear us dis day,

when we till d ground and sow a seed,

send d rain and let d sun smile,

bless our seed so we also could smile

to your house with thanksgiving,

amidst of bountiful harvest.

(C) Fatunbi Omotayo

Omotayo Fatunbi

Monday 2 November 2020

Failed Fellowship

A bunch of errant bench warmers

Bound by a deceitful daily ritual

A sacrifice to diverse personal gods

While on every lip, Praises of the one true God.

Malice clings unto the sisters’ breasts

Hatred flaming in the brothers’ eyes

Backbiting clambers unto the mountain’s crest

A people filled with sassiness, hypocrisy and lies.

They gossip with tongues that cut like blade

If for their likes, heaven is made

Then why won’t I make mandatory

A frequent hell fire sojourn?

© Fatunbi Omotayo

Omotayo Fatunbi

Monday 2 November 2020

Our Darling Lover

At first came a cloudy cloud

Followed by tears as they pelt down

And that chill in the air

That got me emotionally ill.

My heart throbs with pain

As it flows

A stream of memories

Through my bleeding heart.

Whether it’s karma

That brought about this trauma

My lessons I’ve in a hard way learnt

That what I used to call mine

Is not just mine but ours.

© Fatunbi Omotayo

Omotayo Fatunbi

Thursday 29 October 2020

Let Me

Roam the earth as I will

Like a nomadic shepherd

Always on guard

And sleep outdoor at will.

Let me

Sojourn far away

In the strangest of strange lands

Never to go astray

But to grab the milk and honey

With my bare hands.

I wish for a reprieve

Like a raging renegade

I need relief.

Let me

Embrace solitude

For I am a hermit

Not willing to walk with multitude

Not going back to my vomit.

We all hide our hideous face

Concealing our crooked case

Wasting away in our comfort zone

In the city that offers us nothing.

Let me go

For it behoves me to do so

Till out of this boy

A man is made.

© Fatunbi Omotayo

Omotayo Fatunbi

Thursday 29 October 2020

Bukky-Go-Round

Coming after you at full pelt

Never knew

I was barking up the wrong tree

That under the cloak of love, or lost, I was hiding

Dossing on the floor of illusion

Tossed here and there

Flying the blind sky

Like a fly in a dark lampshade

Hope sky-rocketing

Time flies with the speed of lightening

The day would come

When you’d slip and fall

In this well of love

That I’ve in my heart dug.

But the day would not come

For to his abode you hastily headed

To explore and exploit

Whatever it was that caught your owlish eyes

Yet your buttocks would not stick to his mat.

Again you make your move

To hobnob with yet another

And maybe fulfill your foolish fantasy.

A circle of friends we were

But like a merry-go-round

You successfully scaled through us

Still seriously holding to your cloudy claim

Of being a mummy’s girl

Despite your love for classy things

And the way you dog-chased

After flashy cars

From clubs to rendezvous of all sorts

Now you are on your own

In the maze of indecision

No one would heed your call

Time to leave room for others

For you’ve had your way.

Maybe

Or maybe not

You’ve learnt

That actions have consequences.

Omotayo Fatunbi

Wednesday 28 October 2020

Stay at Home

Or wouldn’t you?

When a killer is on rampage

Out there on the street

It is there in the air you breathe.

Stay at home

Or wouldn’t you?

When the plague is lurking

Waiting at every corner

For another captive, another victim.

Stay at home

And keep washing your hand

Don’t touch anything

Maintain social distance

Even within the family.

For death is all around

On the lamp shade

On the kitchen cabinet

On the door post

On the street light pole.

Death has melted into thin air

It sits atop the tap water handle

On the washing hand basin

On the floor of the mosque

And even on the church seats.

How quick the border closed against the importation of rice

A good move; wrong timing

But the border would not close on time; against the world’s most dreaded virus

For they still had a trip here or there to make

Their children abroad needed some time to return home.

Now the virus is imported

Whether you have an international passport or not

It has been imported for all

At a cost too exorbitant for us

For we pay with our freedom of movement.

Yes we are now staying at home

We are no salary earners

But we stay at home

Even salary earners have exhausted their chicken feed

Yet we stay at home.

Of course we would stay at home

For it is better to die at home

Than to litter the street with corpses

We would stay at home

And save the health workers the stress of picking victims on every street.

Stay at home

For the nation has only few testing centers to boast of

Our hospitals lack facilities

It is no news

Since every politicians travel abroad for treatment.

People die of malaria

People die of all sorts of ailments

Kidney disease took a lot of our loved ones

It matters not

For our leaders seek refuge in UK hospitals

The number one citizen has spoken

Only three states to stay on lock down

Two, plus the Federal Capital Territory

A promise of relief materials was made

Only for them.

But the rest of us to stay at home

At our own risk

No food, no money, no relief material

Just stay at home

And keep washing your hands.

Omotayo Fatunbi

Friday 16 October 2020

This Time

This time will pass

Says the sound of my flute

This season of pandemic

This season of plague

That is poised to wipe mankind off the earth’s surface

This time will pass

Says the sound of my flute

This season of no handshake

Sneezing into the elbow

And warning of not touching my own face

This season will pass

Says the sound of my flute

This season of fear

This season of suspecting every coughing neigbours and friends

Maybe or maybe not its common cold or the dreaded covid19

This season of economic downturn

This season of land, air and water border closure

Even religious pilgrimages are forced to retreat

For this pandemic has no respect

For rich, poor, holy or atheist

Even the scientist were caught unaware

And thrown into all day and night research

To develop a potent vaccine for the cure

Be it a fulfillment of another apocalypse

None can tell for now

But it will pass

And make a page in our history

That a pandemic ravaged the world

And left the beasts to thrive

But tore apart the world of man.

Omotayo Fatunbi's Profile

Reflection

Ode to a Step Son

Jogodo

A sight of scenic beauty

A Black Sailor's Song

The Preacher

Before the Reaper Come

I’m Sorry My Friends

Sowing Creed

Failed Fellowship

Our Darling Lover

Let Me

Bukky-Go-Round

Stay at Home

This Time

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