You smile your laugh

And pat me in the back and say

That everything is okay

But I know that nothing is okay

You say to me that I’m welcome

The welcome of Antipas to Jean Batiste

I already see my crown on a platter

A thoughtless token to slake the sizzling caprice

Of dancing beauty

You cuddle me in amity

Your cheek touches mine one after the other

But I am not deceived

As if a magic mirror threw the muck of your mind

On a screen of celluloid

I see your designs

Your hand of friendship is the coil of a python

Killing with its patina of burnished beauty

Your genial smiles the scowl of Iblis

Your willing welcome that of the lion

To the stray duiker to his den

Since I know the masks that your snares wear

I will on brave muted toes of the wind sidesteps them

And arrive at the last station of my journey

The lone hunter in a Tutuolan forest of the spirts

Who has seen more wonders than one tongue can tell

                                                                                           ~Afolabi Blessing

                                                                                             Lagos, Nigeria