At The Point Of No Returns. Poem by CHINWENWA IBEH

From the beginning rises their anguish.
At the point of no return they languish.
Fought against the iron shackle that held them bond.
Their arms, bodies and dreams lay in darkness.
For days, they saw no brightness.
No room to move and stretch arching muscles.
In mind they were strong not to cry and weep.
But at asleep,
Their heart betrayed them pounding in their chest.
The terror swells in their chest.
And fill their throat.
Like a gloat.

At the point of no return,
They were bind.
Their face covered.
Tears fill their eye in helplessness.
Thought of whom they left behind makes them hopeless.
And in the darkness,
They were taken in a journey that was endless.
Thrown inside a ship full with people,
Many with sores and trouble.
Some dead,
Even the aged with grey on their head.
The young wondered and pondered.
How they will be killed and eaten up by their master.
Mister Brown Thick the overseer.

Up early in the morning to the field,
They set on with a bare foot in a tearful voice and yield.
A song that saddens their heart.
But gladdens Brown Thick from the start.
At the field he spits on the ground.
A sign without making a sound.
Under the scorching sun,
They work tirelessly without fun.
And for the elegies that wet their face with tears,
They lament on their fears.
And grief filled their heart
Bade them farewell in every part.

At the point of no return,
Death was their wish.
But death grew deaf ears to their hopeless cries.
Left them to the hands of Brown Thick.
Who whip them with big stick?
And their lives against death from breathe to breath.
Trying to live for every minute of life.