The Grey Areas

​THE GREY AREAS

There are some matters we left to die

Some we abandoned to dry

And many they shade with colours

Plenty they coloured in grey

When you snuff out the budding blossom

Crushing it faintly on the spikey clog

Life slithers away like a lonesome tear

Dry tears that time would not shut


There are those who coat life in many hues

And dark shadows trail them to the candle light

They light a flame, fan the faint so lame

The flicker they guard till the fire so fade

Feeble ways. No, not feeble

Why change the cowries for that so costly

And give the sacred to the creatures so swine

Even the gnome feeds on pearls

Why put such comfort in mortal men?

©2010

From the Anthology: Solitaire 

Teju Duru is a freelance journalist based in Ibadan