Poem: Flower and Thorns by Peter Elias

I am a flower
with a woolly heart
for lustering my beauty

I shoulder your mind’s art
& bury your face, eyes
& instrument in public walls

Your heart I aim for
to read the stories therein
and make other ears believe

A morsel of appetizer
will buy me from the prism of myself
into the doctrine of your household

And, I am a thug—
the nightmare you envision
to harvest voices from their throats

I defend your face
from brutality and inspire comrades
for season-less power and symbolic blood-drifting

When my flower withers,
I become to you an accomplice
to serve you in the rest seasons

But if earth cries
over its sons and daughters that will return,
it will laugh scornfully over our selfishness

ABOUT POET

Peter Elias Ashiwhobere is a Nigerian poet and writer. He has performed his poems on several platforms: the Pan African Space Station, Lagos Book and Art Festival and Lagos International Poetry Festival, among others. He is resident in Lagos, Nigeria. His phone number (09037338334) and email (peter.elias22@yahoo.com)