this life is a concentration camp!
I’ve been choked with the incumbrance
of an evil friend,
the sordid companion that negates by positivity,
my hope, dried up like an extinct well

the sun presses me down, like a scorching iron,
flattened by reality,
even maimed by the smile of passing men on the street…
what do I get, for sitting there?
Maybe a penny of two…

there’s something in that light
right before me, I try to reach by I can’t
it’s adorable purity squints my sight
and blesses me with eternal blackness,
the whole world painted black before my eyes
never seen anything like it,

but it feels good!
now I can’t see the monstrous sores on my sole
or the predatory blisters on my bare, merciful feet,
I feel the rain, dancing on my skin,
it’s the only comfort of the day,
its monotonous melody, soothing in this corner of the street
tears drop from my eyes,
wondering how reality can be so heartless.
                                                                 By Kakraba Afful