Don't say those things
It might hurt a friend

Don't do those things
It will break a heart?

No need going a million miles
To flaunt the beasts in us

You are right and no one cares
Let them be, *‘cause* Karma comes

Silence can screams and even saves the scene
Choosing it is always a wise choice

No need being devil's kinsman
We're all feeling beings

If you've got nothing good to say
My friend, shut your mouth and walk away

(no be insalt...na advice)

© Olatuja Oloyede
Pen Panther

Not the type of guy you like
My gait too dull for you
Rustles around my freckled neck
And blushes above my wrinkled face
A stuttering voice can sing no charming songs
But if I say I love you
Be sure I really do

Not your ideal man
Years at gym gave me no six packs
My muscles cannot move mountains
But can carry you when you fall

Not your real man
No mines, no mansion to flaunt
I'm saving for the raining day

All I asked is your broken pieces
I do not mean to start this war

While you wait your perfect man
Watch me as I walk away

© Olatuja Oloyede
Pen Panther

Timeless in glory
Endless in majesty
Uncreated mystery
Dwelling in unsearchable light
Redeemer of a shattered past
Wisdom of the age to come

All hail my Lord and King
The undying spring of peace
The oracle of excellent minds
The inexhaustible God
The beginning that begin before the beginning began
The ending that outlives the ageless eternity

I'm just a frail creature
Passing through time
Yet you send rain in seasons
To wash away my tears
Your sunshine blossoms my bud

The uncorruptible force of good
The benefactor of all existing things

This is a new day again
A generous gift to the undeserving world
I get busy a times and become ungrateful
But today
I won't forget to say thank you LORD

© Olatuja Oloyede
Pen Panther

*PEN PANTHER*

No naming ceremony when I was born
My father had the wealth but lacks the will
So they called me a name I love to forget

At 12 the priest gave them a word
This boy needs a deeper name
So father called a mammoth crowd
It was on market day in the city of hills
There a grand feast visited the world of men
And he calls me Oloyede
Meaning *The Wise One is Here*

I wasn't the best in my class
So I wonder why some fellas call me *Prof*
But that's the way it is with college folks
I think I prefer *Sapient*
So I crested that on one of my shirt

I belong to an aristocracy of poets
We wine and dine at intervals
As deep calling out to deep
There they recently named me *Pen Panther*
A name I love and intend to use
*ScarredPoet* (Oluwamarc) and *Eazyline* started it
And none of the hundred poets object
Not even *The Fighting Pen* my friend
Or *Theadvopoet* my cousin

Have I any right to call myself a name?
I will think of just one thing
*MYSTERY*
For I do not know who I am

© Olatuja Oloyede
*PEN PANTHER*

PERFECT LIKE THIS

I think life is heretofore fixed
What we do and who we are are scripted
By forces that never craved our consent

Look at the colour of my skin
Or the lines on your palm
The name, the gender, the home, the people, the nation
How many of these things was by choice?

If all flowers were roses
Where will the daffodils grow?
If all stones were gold
Where will those priceless diamonds be?
There is beauty in these differences
It makes the world colourful

The next time you see me
Do not remind me that my skin is black
My hair is tough and kinky I know
Don't accuse my stoutness
I am unique in all my climes
And perfect just the way I am

© Olatuja Oloyede

See those hustlers of this busy street
This is a small colony of confused minds

See that boy running down the street
His heart can only wander and dream

That bus driver yelling like a mad man
All he ask for is a chance to truly be a man at home

What of that man in suit wearing a sad look
His certificate has betrayed him

But he is not the only one frustrated these days
The woman hawking roasted corn by the roadside
She has PhD  too

The clatters of failure must thunder
But life is never meant to stand still

The street is always full of death and darkness
But those who dare to fight
Will always find a way to win

Through the ruins of life some treasure are retrieved
In sadness strength may be found

The wind should not set the sail of our soul
We are the captains of our fates

Those  who chooses to always have a say
In the matter of destiny
Will carve out for themselves better fortunes
Nothing can stop a man who discovers his true self

© Olatuja Oloyede

Of all things I know so tempting
Love is the greatest
A treasure so confused
A gift so misleading
A haven pregnant with hell
It beckons and burns
Yet we call it blessing

Of all feelings so unknown
Love is the darkest
It fills the soul with excitement this moment
It's gone like a free bird the next
With fountains of bitter tears behind
Yet we fancy it sweet

Is love not that feeling only a god can feel
Those who drink this liquor from the cup of angels
Are usually drunk, then mad and finally lost
This is that whirlwind of experience
That changes the life of the youth
And the course of humanity forever

It's a wavering truth
It's the subtle lie
It is everything you think
It is nothing to me

© Olatuja Oloyede

Stand still and listen
Today we celebrate the birth of royalty
A noble soul is walking the earth
Her footprints are unwashed on the shores of time
God has sent a goddess to us
And we tremble at the sight of her

I've known a poet and lyricist
Sweet tenderness personified
The womb that cocooned my life at birth
The hands that tended my cradled head
The first to cry when I'm hurt
The last to give up when I'm lost
The one you call my mother
The one I call my dear treasure

She's plus one today
What more can I say
Of those sacrifices I can't repay
From the days I moulded with clay
To the days I'm strong enough to make the hay
Come what may
Let the health and wealth stay
Long life, peace and prosperity for you I pray

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUMMY

© OLATUJA OLOYEDE
(I WAS CHRISTENED PEN PANTHER LATELY BY A GANG OF POETS)

A monster from the shadows
Haunting me from my dark days
I once negotiate with demons
But I didn't exchange my soul
For the treasures of hell

My soul is lurking the shores of flames
Wandering in chains
I'm lost in my pains

This night, I will have a say in my fate
Darkness... our pact is done
Death... Our treaty is over
I'm fading on this winding road
That which leads everywhere leads nowhere

Gain my crown of hypocrisy
Bastard days have betrayed me
Wandering nights have broken me...
Let me be true to God this once
If happiness my lost soul may know
If peace my fretful heart may find

© Olatuja Oloyede

Some things will never change
Like the strips on the zebra skin

Some tears will never dry
Like the rivers running into the sea

Some people never dies
Like the golden names on the history slates

Some prayers are never answered
Like those of the royal roses grassing the desert plans

Life has limit within its stretches
It won't always tilt the good way

Love life's unfolding with thanks
And accept people for who they are

The yesterday is gone forever
Tomorrow is always unknown
So live today
Live now

A little worry
That's what a peaceful life needs

© OLATUJA OLOYEDE

Life's voyage has led me thus far
This terrain of silence was never my home

My soul is marooned on the island of sin
I was never born this way

God you know all my life
I've craved for the perfection of angels
I've coveted the innocence of a child

I've desired the cloaks of the monks
And prayed for the testimonies of the saints

Where this tide is taking me
Where this path is leading me
How far and how long I still have to go
I do not know

Should I succumb to the beast within?
Should I keep fighting with my frail punches?

I'm at the hinterlands of this darkness
Yet I see a beckon of light
Urging me to get up each time I fall
I'm never lost beyond redemption still

© Olatuja Oloyede

Children of the old brutal witches
Sons of the idle homeless thieves
Have mastered the sorcery of their gods
The ancient bandit's creed
Now they loot our dreams

Common slaves of ungrateful histories
Have risen in ranks by sacred conspiracies
Killing all that stood their way
Until the throne is burdened beneath their bosoms
And the crowns saging above their heads

They won't stop at that
This race of monsters stops at nothing
They will steal from the thieves
Strip the rags of the powerless poor
They will kill until death is dead
And we will only do what we have always done
Watching in silence!

© Olatuja Oloyede

*HAPPY EASTER*

I didn't have to turn to see your smiles
The look on your face follows me when you're gone
From this room into my dreams
It's trusting and asking
Of virtues richer than my mortal pouch

You see an angel made man in me
But my imperfections are eating me up to the bones
You think I'm braving the storms
And daring the flames

You just can't see how consumed I am in my fears
I bleed when my skin is bruised
I cry when my heart is broken

Maybe I'm not that bad
I run from breaking a good heart
Each day, I'm only trying not to screw up

© Olatuja Oloyede

Happy Easter

*THEY JUST WALKED AWAY*

One more dark night
And it will be over
Only one foggy hour
And it will be forgotten

Sitting alone behind my closed door
A bottle of poison beckon from the rack
As I remember how we were as lovers

You are now married to the rich thief
I know we are done and you are gone

I still loved all the happy moments we shared
It was the best of my simple life
I'm mad at you and at myself
Because I can't stop loving you

My heart has stumbled on the subject of suicide
Pondered in its darkness briefly
But as I near that ecstasy of death
I crave for life once again
I must stay and fight for my place in destiny
Only cowards run to hide behind shallow graves

My heavy heart will never stop asking
If this is how people just walk away

© Olatuja Oloyede

*TO BE GOOD IS TO BE MODERATELY WICKER*

The morning sun cut me on my idle bed
I stared at my door and remembered suddenly
Like a blurry dream

Last night someone knocked my door
The hour was still and calm
Each knock rumbled my ears
“My name his Lakimba” his wearied voice said

From his voice I knew he was a stranger
Perhaps, one of those winter travellers
He needs a fortress from the hassling cold
And a haven from the dangerous street

I listened quietly to his teary pleas
My heart was broken for him
But I prayed that he should go from my door
Yet he neither made a stay or went away

I thought for a moment to let him in
Offer him food and my wooden bed

As soon as that bird of goodness perched on my mind
I chased it away with my stones of experience
This world is a cruel place to show kindness
To be good now is to be moderately wicked

So I lay motionless for a while in silence
When I saw the stranger won't stop
I turned my head towards the wall
And fell into a long nourishing sleep

© Olatuja Oloyede

*A FRIEND*

Like a winding sail
Life can be long and wearying
For the man that goes alone
Everyone needs that faithful shoulder
He can always lean on when troubled

Burdens are the heavy rocks
Casting shadows on the pilgrim's paths
It is never meant to be carried alone
By one fragile heart
That is why we need that friend
We can always count on

Gold may be precious
And pearls of Sharon great
But what finer luxury is better than a true friend?
That is why they are scarcely ever found

A friend is a shelter from the rain
And a shade from the hurting sun
They will mend you when broken
And find you when lost

© Olatuja Oloyede

I bleed my blood when I cry
My swollen eyes have seen
The darkness of many sleepless nights
My weak bones has carried the troubles of many days

No more can I see
The beauty in the flowers blossoming above the mountains
Nor dance to the melody of the rustling hour

Even now I sit in the shades of this tree
Watching the sun reflected in the river
As the caressing breeze rocks my shirt
I wish only for one thing
To be far gone
To be someone else somewhere else

You see, my hurting heart is sinking deep
But you won't know
Since you left us without farewells
At such a tender age

Through many weary days I have come
In my rags of survival
Over the hills of many bitter tears I've climbed

It may be a long time since you left
I still curse the day you died

© Olatuja Oloyede