Mr Martin and his son

By: Uzoechina Chisom Chigozie

I

Down the street, he lived

Before the pub and opposite the parish

The parish ne’er was attractive

The pub, did he love & cherish

—

He was a wife beater, Mr Martin

So perfectly did he throw the dice

He carried the bottle too, that’s certain

And knew every ill and every vice

—

Mr Martin was a good-for-nought

Mr Martin did love his bed

Even one penny, he had not

But now, Mr Martin is dead

—

Where he goes

And how he fares

Nobody knows

And nobody cares.

—

II

Now lives a merry boy, Mr Martin’s son,

such wantonhead,

who aimlessly trod from the break of day

till the chilling midnight air.

—

“Hullo, merry boy,

whence came you?”

—

“I came from his loins

who lolls about while men toiled.

I am such a one as he

and I do as I see.”

I am a graduate of Human Physiology from the University of Port Harcourt and currently a final year medical student at the University of Calabar. Some of my poems have been published in ‘PETALS AND PITFALLS: An Anthology of Poems by Medics’ available on amazon.com and okadabooks.com. I hail from Imo state, Nigeria. I enjoy reading, and writing poetry.