Poems – June 1998

DELINQUENCY
by, Gilbert O. Egule
The International Federation of Women Lawyers

We read in the papers, we hear on the air
Of killings and stealing and crime everywhere
We sigh and we say, as we notice the trend
“This young generation, where will it end?”
But can we be sure that it’s their fault alone?
That maybe a part of it might be our own
Too much money to spend; too much idle time
Too many movies of passion and crimes
Too many books not fit to be read
Too much evil in what they hear said
Too many children encouraged to roam the streets
By too many parents who won’t stay at home
Youths don’t make the movies, they don’t write the books
That paint the gay picture of gangsters and crooks
They don’t  make the liquor, they don’t run bars
They make the laws, and they don’t the cars
They don’t make the drugs that idle the brain
It’s all done by older folks, greedy for gain
And how many cases we find that it’s true?
The label “DELINQUENCY” fits the older folks, too.

The Bitter Liquor
by Omoluyi Eugene 
Ex-student Alimoso Grammar School  

  When you first tested it
You liked it
Now you love the bottle
Just because of its content
Now you have got hooked to it
You even drink it like water
Somehow you have almost forgotten
That you have once collapsed into gutter
As a result of drunkenness
That you have once been hit by a car
While walking drunkenly along the busy road
That you have many times vomited so badly
And almost vomited your intestine
Don’t remain adamant
Don’t remain unyielding
Stop swallowing drowsiness
It is not pleasure
You had better change before it drinks you up