THE EPIDEMIC (NEW CORONA)

Woe bring’st thou and woe thee betide.
For all that sorrow to thee are tied.
And for fatalities by yours upon our comrades;
First the SARS, then MERS; all in raids,
Usurping our dominance over lower beings,
From bats and cats to donkeys and dogs, like outlawed kings.

Perhaps these, for transgressions by our kind,
Perpetrated against the will of a mega mind;
And thou, the vindication of cautions clearly laid.
Only though such a warning, only subtly said.

Now we cast thee; from us be gone!
With thy mantra at present we’re done.
Flee from ours for thy case now clear,
And we are bound to put you at rear.
Know thee then, our great resolve:
The dominance we bear’s from high above.

Written: February 27, 2020.

IN YOU

In you we trust,
Great Ghost of might.
In you we bestow
Our essence of being from below.

You bestowed on us dominion
Over all through you
And though we falter and fumble,
You come through in due
To redeem and restore.

Again like in times long gone,
We’re bitterly bound to beckon,
With heavy hearts and solemn souls,
On your saving grace ever assured.

For the world under our care,
Is made to make many a foe.
And presently doomed to woe
By the present pestilence ravaging
And by our ill will we fear,
We must turn to thee to make it go.

We turn to thee faithful father,
To make us wiser, stronger, better;
Once more to heal the world,
Through the lamb, saviour of the world
And redeemer of all men.

Written: August 17, 2020.

About The Author

Anayo Valentine Dioha (writing professionally under the preferred pseudonym, Lord D’Rich), was born in Kaduna, Nigeria on 4th October, 1989, he hails from Ihiala, Anambra State, Nigeria. His parents are both Igbos and retirees. His father worked as a banker while his mother, as a teacher He is the first of five children with two brothers and two sisters. He had all his formal education except Masters’ in Ihiala. He is a legal practitioner presently residing in Awka Nigeria, from where he writes.