By 
It never started with Talatu’s death,
This whole thing…
In fact,
It started long before the odour from her stench broke through the key hole
Revealing her rottening body before our mindless selfish eyes
Talatu didn’t just pass through Snipper-ville
On her self sponsored pilgrimage to death
It started little by little
It started that day she told you she had a problem
And that this problem has been troubling her mind
But your sorry, the one you said that day
was so slippery that sympathy just slipped through.
Then she started curling away from you
Away from everybody
You saw it! You really did saw it, but…
Then, she developed that hatred for light
Because somehow
It reveals to her sight the nakedness of her plight
As a substitute, she crawled into the silence of the subtle darkness
Touring through different lands; known and unknown
Lands like: Lonelyland, Tearyland, Depressionland, Rejectionland,
Confusionland, Despondentland
As she beamed with long faces and heavy sighs.
All these happened! Still, you didn’t do a thing
Till she got bored of taking these repetitive trips to known places,
And started dreaming of a land of peace
where problems did not exist….
So here we are at her burial stand, saying our final goodbyes
In droplets of sacarstic tears
Saddled with mock-filled moans
As we put sand
Over sand.
Author: Ibrahim Williams
Ibrahim Williams is a graduate of English language. He is known as ibn_williams on Instagram where he posts some of his poetry and literary works. Other than Instagram, he has been featured and published across various online literary platforms. He currently lives in Lagos where he observes his compulsory National Youth Service.