All For Love Poem by Chris Jibero

Merciless sun rays tormented my bare back
Whose cover it had dissolved
Like sleeping palm oil in a red hot frying pan
As I laboured to tidy up another man's farm
Overgrown by itchy weeds
And I stumbled on a splendid pod of groundnut
Hastily broke it and ate its broad seductive single seed
To whet my love appetite begging to be satisfied
But it upset my stomach badly

Tall palm tree climbed I with bare hands
Selected one its enticing nuts
And speedily cracked it with my steely teeth
And avidly ate its kernel
Thinking it would satisfy my hunger for love
But it purged me malevolently

Full grown iroko-like coconut tree did I painstakingly climb
Plucked one of its bunched nuts
Hurriedly broke it on its trunk
Drank its sweet syrup
And ate its juicy tasty seed
But it handed me debilitating diarrhea and dysentry

Great heights did I ascend
Stock my hands into beehives
In crevices of rocks and hollow tree trunks
Swiftly harvested and ate aromatic honey
But it gave me cholera
That was bent on sending me to hell

Yet continued I in my innate quest
To banish my hunger for love
But now must I confront seas and mountains that I feared
And learn how to navigate rough waves and climb cliffs
So I can cross over and take delectable love
That may finally sweeten my ravished belly.

(c) Chris Jibero.