Story for the gods

things are hard,

The bigman in a big hurry
Flings his agbada and these words
His silhouette, a big-house of a man
Stops
Drops a 10naira note into
my empty treasury
He moves forward 
Makes a thoughtful u-turn
'Hardship is upon us'
Came his sizzling whisper as
He dips his hands into the treasury and
Picks a five naira note

It is like watching
The endless lake of the lady; 
Uhamiri
No fish in sight
As calmness takes flight

Hardship: a two-edged sword
Travel light by the river at night
Turns up at dawn
And devours a decade's meal

Hardship
Looks like my bicycle headed- ​​​​​brother
When he was born
Who grew up rapidly
To devour his parents
With education fees

Hardship stays and stays and stares
With partial eyes, blind
Like the babe I bore 
Bearing intestines large as the limitless sky

Hardship turns up like a babe
Rapidly grows into a man
Makes a choice of wife
In the abode of the lowly

Hardship:
Bigman says he knows hardship
True, probably because his dogs eat hardship
by hour And
Hardship eats us
every nano second

Bigman knows hardship by name only
We know hardship
The colour of his iris
The mole on his naked form We saw
The day he raped us 

The night we thought we have found sleep
Unaware that his thunderous voice
Will give us a rude awakening

Still bigman thinks he knows hardship
He probably caught a faint glimpse 
While seated in a gold-plated balcony
Sipping tea 
Reading, Nodding excitedly 
At his name in the contract list
While his silhouette 
Reads the riot act to
A downcast
Fearful
Tearful
Hands-raised-in-the-air
Hardship

Yet
Bigman says he knows hardship
Well,

That-

Is his story for the gods