ODE: "YUSHAB IS TWENTY-TWO!" BY YUSHAB ABOLORE

𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐞! 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭!

𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬, 𝐦𝐚𝐧'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐭!

𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐠𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭,

𝐍𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭,

𝐀 𝐬𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭.

𝐍𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐧𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭,

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭, 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭.

𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥,

𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐝.

𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭, 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝,

𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝.

𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐡—𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞,

𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬.

𝐍𝐨𝐰, 𝐘𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐛 𝐢𝐬 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐓𝐨𝐨-𝐖𝐢𝐬𝐞,

𝐁𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬, 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐞𝐬.

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐝, 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞,

𝐆𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞.

𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭,

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐰 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.

𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐢𝐧'𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭—𝐢𝐭 𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧,

𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞, 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐧.

𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐩, 𝐈 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 ‘𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭,

𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤.

𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐭,

𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭.

𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐈 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐭,

𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧—𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭.

𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐘 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐓𝐎 𝐌𝐄!

© YUSHAB ABOLORE AYOMIDE

- Nigeria

The poet persona celebrates himself on his birthday. He celebrates all his memories and feels successful to have attained a lot at the age of twenty-two. The voice wants his readers to see how handsome he is as he sees this birthday as an encouragement towards more success.