Zeitgeist
We Nigerians
When challenged about
Excess and vainglorious edifices
Are forced to admit
(albeit unwillingly)
Our extreme enthusiasm
For building
Stuff
But not up-keeping
Any of it.
The finest architects
And engineers
Design and construct
The complex and magnificent
Eliciting a mixture
Of awe and envy
Lust and pleasure
Ziggurats for modern man.
From arch to truss
Bridges
Eagerly erected
In villages and towns
Across rivers and motorways
Thought to be our saving grace
Their very connectivity
Oozing practicality
Yet miserably revealing
No plans for continuity.
Conservation
A given, every elsewhere
A maybe, in our stratosphere
Where both animate
And inanimate alike
Are so easily replaceable.
Inevitably
This craving
For newer, bigger, better
Invades our private lives
Great unions
Developed, nurtured, magnified
Tired and disposed of.
Because.
A once noble
Passageway of life
Now rickety walkway
Facilitating mundane
Comings and goings
Only relevant
In minds masquerading
As hearts
Until eventually
We succumb to the irrational
Ditching the vexatious
Uncomfortable, inconvenient
We fall
From fruitful to futile
In one fell swoop.
Still, caveats abound.
The past should sometimes
Remain there.
Vague, elusive
Firmly out of reach.
The path to bad habits
Places, people
Totally obliterated
Lest our lives be a
Never-ending cycle
Of glimpsed promise
Unachieved
Never quite escaping
The crippling narrative
Of a hapless past.
Naysayers call it
Reinvention.
Tut-tutters
Escape.
I personally favour
Saving one’s sanity.
Your interpretation,
I leave to you.
Have you ever been tempted
To flee the
Downright toxic?
I hear you!
Staying can be
A costly exercise.
However
Should puma
One day
Morph into pussycat
Chances are
The damage will be
Irreparable.
Those schooled
In experience
Attest to
An inexplicable
Peace
When diplomacy
And forbearance
Rule the day.
They see that
Structures
Albeit frail and unreliable
Have been established
For reason and season
Fulfilling a purpose.
Best to bethink
That taken in context
Even cheesy slogans
Are right up there with brie...
We. Are. Always. Better. Together.
Created for unity
To function in community
The why and what for
Of The Bridge...
👓
📖 Through the peace that ties you together, do your best to maintain the unity that the Spirit gives.
Ephesians 4:3 GW (YouVersion)
📖 On that Day, there will be a highway all the way from Egypt to Assyria: Assyrians will have free range in Egypt and Egyptians in Assyria. No longer rivals, they’ll worship together, Egyptians and Assyrians!
Isaiah 19:23 MSG (YouVersion)
📖 There is only one God. There is also only one person who brings God and people together. That person is Christ Jesus, who became a man himself.
1 Timothy 2:5 EASY (YouVersion)