The War is Here Again!

By

Iwuese Lucy Ahua

Women to thimble and needles. Boys to war. Girls to cotton fields. Men to whore houses. Scorching days and howling nights. These are the tales of our non repentant world.
Stitching fabrics, with tear stained cheeks, drawing blood from fingers moving to distract a worried heart from the pain bore deep within.
Knapsacks, good luck charms and crumpled photographs, all put behind not out of malice but with a hope of some sanity to return to.
Humming love songs in the fierce sun, hearts crying out to lovers in distant lands, tilling the soil and sowing blood from bruised palms along with seeds.
Memories of another life, a time where the thrill of life lay in snuffing out another’s, a time where the values of a man were tested in form and strength , a time where a man savored the warmth from the thighs of strange women and we’re reminded of their worth by the lips on their scars and words in their ears, now only done for the release of self repulsion.
But the reality was way worse. The war was coming again. Loss was spread around like a common cold ; boyhood stolen, young love cut short, self worth along with limbs, innocence in a hurried assurance of promises of a return, children, husbands, wives, the essence of living.
The war is here again. And as always has come to take more than anyone is willing to give.