A MAN CALLED FATE
For a long time,
I've been expecting your visit
For years, I've waited to meet you.
I do not know if you're
aware of my waiting times.
Nor aware of my pains,
tears, and countless sorrows,
Nor even consider the
scolding with which men scolds me
I'm still waiting to receive you -
A man called fate.
We had a promise from my birth
that you shall defend me
in my weary times.
And would give me food
in my times of dearth.
Yet, you watched me
as I die of hunger.
You couldn't even give me
water to quench my thirst.
You mercilessly left me
to satisfy my thirst with my tears.
Yet, you claimed
to love me wholeheartedly,
why is it so, a man called fate.
You severely left me disheartened.
You told me that you
shall come years ago.
I waited, it passed,
You promised me you
shall come another year.
It passed, and you kept
postponing your arrival.
Leaving me to hold
my pillows in expectations
As it is soaked with
my tear gland secretion;
Yet, you emphatically
claimed to love me.
A man called fate.
Fate, if I offend you
please forgive me!
If I'd wronged you unknowingly,
take pity on me.
For my breaths are
becoming unbreathable;
And my hopes are drowning
in the ocean of despair,
May I not die without seeing fate;
Owner of kismet, please intervene.
Re-write my fate for good,
writers of doom and fortune.
Preach to me,
preachers of hope and delay
In my obscurity,
exchange my suicide rope for hope.
Grant my plea,
before I kiss the dust in haste.
Ease my breath,
owner of breath, and death.
Take me to where I
shall meet my calling,
before the pressure of
life presses me down.
Aid my plea,
before doom comforts me.
Quickly come and relieve me
of my countless penuries.
Creator, please plead with
my fate to make me at ease.
The dimensions of my
pains are beyond words.
At a point, I bargained
my breath with the maker of death.
If only life and death
could be traded by barter,
I would have given
my lungs in exchange.
The only hope that
I have is in the breath of my nostrils.
When exactly shall I meet fortune?
Be it as it may, a man called fate.
Fate, why do you keep
quiet to my maladies?
If I suffer pangs,
what will be the
lot of my spirit?
The weight of my
spasm is soul-destroying.
How long shall
I endure the sweetness of tears?
How long shall
I endure the pains of delay?
Come to my rescue,
maker of fate and doom.
Listen to me,
creator of life and death.
Ease me when I'm still alive -
For it will be too late
when I finally kick the bucket;
I am confused,
come and see into the matter of my fate.
Never leave me alone to drink my tears.
I beseech you, a man called fate.
Dear man called fate
I long to see you someday
Make it quick and observe
my unendurable anguish
For there is no
gain in my current pain.
There is no iota of sweetness
in my current plight.
I plead with you;
a man called fate.
quickly come and
hand my fortune to me.
Author Bio
Peter Okonkwo was born in Akure, a city in the South-Western part of Nigeria. He is a freelance writer, editor, fatalist, literary critic, soon-to-be novelist of Etean's Destiny; and a certified orator from the Friendship Leadership Institute of Nigeria. Peter is the author of three poetry collections: Ecstasy of the Dead; Fate, In the Dungeon of Doom, and Whose Fault, Kismet or Impediment? His works have been surveyed as one that runs a gamut of emotion, religious undercurrents, the afterlife, and mysteries of the human fate - occasionally coming across a quite wistful, melancholy, and in other instances very positive, and thought-provoking sort of anthologies. Peter is the host of the "P. English Literature" YouTube channel where he reviews books and conducts interviews with authors around the world.