Ayei Ibiang
@ayeiibiang080407
1 year ago

TO THE GOD OF GOLD

Inscribed at the back of the coin was the devil's face,
a frightful beast chiseled out from solid gold;
Teeth baring,
an ear-to-ear grin
stretched to fit fitly into vanity's mould:
To that prideful stare
smeared with the colours of pomp and profit;
Suits bearing on them the fragrance of mint;
pockets ladened with wads of currencies,
the badge of fame boldly crested on it

So all who worshipped
took the knee before this deity,
lips kissing the metallurgy;
The sweat of the goldsmith's hands
- his hammer and chisel;
the craftsmanship of his laid down plans
- his paper, ruler and pencil

Yes, to the god of gold bowed the lost soul,
his humanity stripped;
Conscience peeled from the back of his mind like a hanging flesh,
his integrity flayed by the devil's whip:
Skin and bones exposed,
to the emptiness of power and wealth;
To the gall of wine
and the shame of pleasure;
Yes,
to the unrevered goddess of health



He is a shimmer of divinity,
glowing with the fires of hell;
bearing in his bowels the furnace that smelts the ore;
The magnificence - the grandeur, the awe
So all who seek their shine can stand in the embers his light,
in the amber of vainglory;
On the peak of its height,
laying a lamb
on the very altar of the unholy

But with legs chasing the bag,
we unconsciously found the grave
- the face
of the uncompromising,
blinded to the
halo and glow of the purest gold;
An antithesis to the proposition of the briber,
the unyielding of which he cannot fold

Yet while we wait on his mercy,
we plead his benevolence
Maybe he'll show the estranged some compassion,
or maybe he'll not
But just a little gold,
just a fair coin,
just a little more of what we've already got
This is our humble plea before the very throne of vanity;
before the majestic presence of this "god of gold"




***






Written by: Ibiang, Ayei Okoi
Friday, 22nd October, 2021.
7:41pm
#Aï
#Nirclestories
#Poetry