20 hearts, 20breaks

Dear 2020,

First you took lives, and it was normal, sad but normal

Then you made a trend of it, kind of like you were testing us

Or maybe preparing us. We cried and life moved on understanding that it was inevitable

Life had to go on – but there were questions as to why you took our saints, the good ones.

 

Second, came talk of war

Accompanied with jokes, because what else could we do

Than to wait and watch –the jokes making us feel better, temporarily but better anyways.

 

Then when all was well, or at least it looked that way

You brought out the big guns – putting a hold on life

It took us a minute, but we saw it through.

 

And somewhere in the middle of all this, you brought out

Your key fighters; placing them at the fore front of this battle line

You gave us rapists and murderers, accompanied with their swords of justification

Telling us why it was so, why it had to be that way, like they were meting out punishments for sins.

 

As if all of this was not enough, as if our faiths hadn’t been through enough battles of ‘God why’

Like we hadn’t already surrendered to the invisible,

You gave us the cries of people, whose only ‘fault’ was the colour of their skin

Begging for their lives from people who breathe the same air, and walk on the same land

Who eat the same food and have equal body parts.

 

THIS, THIS wasn’t enough twenty, twenty

You planted seeds of enmity, and pierced Kaduna

With thorns indescribable, the ashes of humans like burnt offerings to you

One would think you’d be appeased, but you kept at it.

Lives disappearing, like rabbits in magic hats

Twenty twenty, we did not sign up for these tricks

The tickets we bought gave no warnings, this isn’t what we wanted.

To the next show we move.