That morning he woke up

feeling wind in his stomach

the pot is empty, the home is dry,

his wife told him. 

Thought he,

when penury comes, poverty retreats

but they reeled in, his two children

to remind him of

their stomachs unfed, their clothes untended; 

adding insult to injury

came their third-door neighbour to prod him

to his debt unsettled at bargain

for he rests not

whose fate undecided;

with that quite consoled, he left

for his farm to do some tapping

for his fending. 

But he fell from a palm tree

that day and died

while struggling to make the mind

and the body a match.

Nigerian, born in 1979 and hailed from Ede in Osun State. Graduate of English Language (B.A. Edu). Loves writing and reading. Has written a volume of poems titled Whips and Lashes, a collection of short stories titled The Foliage and a collection of short amusing tales titled The World Is Too Serious with Us. Above poem from Whips and Lashes.