The ill Wind
Oluseyi Ogunbanwo@oluseyiogunbanwo018093
5 months ago
Hello, Elder.
Hello, Son.
Times are hard,
the wind cuts through our bones.
It is an ill wind,
you say—
but every storm demands courage.
I have heard of the protest,
the streets preparing their throats.
I am torn between two prayers:
to endure
or to rise.
Why would you protest?
Because hunger is loud,
because patience is bleeding,
because the wind does not blow us all the same way.
To some,
it is destruction—
roofs torn, farms ruined.
To others,
it is energy—
turning their windmills of gold.
I own no farm, Elder.
Only empty hands.
Why would you persevere?
Because Scripture whispers
even when my stomach screams.
But tell me—
is there not a holy footnote
for protest?
The Constitution allows it.
The Bible does not command it.
So must I obey parchment
or prophecy?
Rights are not the same
as righteousness.
Freedom ends
where God draws a line.
But the air is poisoned.
Prices rise like floodwaters.
We are drowning,
Elder.
We are not damned, Son.
For to be damned
would mean God has left.
But perhaps the storm
is worse than we admit
because we are worse
than we confess.
We profit from rot.
We feast on corruption.
We stab each other
in the name of tribe.
Hatred wears our faces
like a second skin.
Then how do we heal?
Society is a choir of disagreements.
No two voices
face the same direction.
But harmony is born
when difference listens.
So—
should I march
or kneel?
If your feet do not betray your faith,
if your heart remains
at peace with God,
if this protest will cure
both present wounds
and future scars—
then lead.
But those conditions are impossible!
Then why gamble your soul
for a noise
that cannot save you?
Must we suffer in silence
while others shout and feast
on the echoes?
I never forbade you, Son.
I only told you the truth:
protests break things,
rarely chains.
They leave behind
ashes,
not abundance.
So what shall we do, Elder?
Die quietly
while they drink our sweat?
Elder?
Elder?
The wind answers.
Not him.
-Oluseyi Ogunbanwo
#poetry
#CitizenJournalist
16 days ago