DIDACTIC: "WHO I HELP?" BY MUHAMMAD MERCURIAL

Laughing on wounds

Stretching bleeding arms to help

This is the Sanga, where men are made

Where pain wears perfume

And hunger puts on courage

Where broken boys learn to bury tears

Where the weak get tested

And the strong get tempted

Where survival comes before respect

I have seen empty pockets

Give more than golden hands

I have seen rich hearts die poor

Here, kindness walks barefoot

While betrayal rides in convoy

And loyalty sleeps with one eye open

I help the ones who hustle

The ones who bleed in silence

The ones who still share their last

I carry no saviour badge

I am just a man with scars

Trying not to become the wound

Some need a hand

Some need a warning

Some need the truth without sugar

I pull men from the gutter

But I don't carry their pride

A rescued man must learn to stand

I know the taste of struggle

The smell of desperate nights

The silence after a failed prayer

My family sees a future

My pocket sees a battle

My shoulders carry both

They want a son who makes it

A name that outlives struggle

A home where lack won't knock

I carry my mother's prayers

Like armour beneath my shirt

Even when my faith walks limping

My father's hope sits heavy

In the silence of my failure

I must become more than potential

I dream of little footsteps

Running freely through my house

Never learning fear from hunger

My children must inherit vision

Not the wounds I never healed

Not the debts my silence buried

I want to father with patience

Not the anger life taught me

Not the absence I survived

Let my children know my lap

Before they learn my sacrifices

Let my voice feel safer than the world

I want to be their shelter

Not the storm they escape

Their first definition of home

But the road demands payment

Some risks wear familiar faces

Some graves begin with one brave step

I take risks in silence

Drinking palm wine with Death

And nobody knows the distance

Some nights, I fight tomorrow

With a body tired of today Still,

I rise before the sun

Who sees the man trembling?

Who asks what courage costs?

Who holds the hands that hold everybody?

I am the man they lean on

The son expected to deliver

The brother hiding his own hunger

I am the man, sister, mother, daughter and wife will be proud to have

Not because I never fall

But because I rise without selling my soul

A man with room for tenderness

A heart that does not fear responsibility

A backbone that does not bend to evil

I want my name to mean safety

My presence to mean peace

My absence to leave love behind

Who I help?

The fallen who still fight

The wounded who refuse to wound

The hungry who still share

The broken who still build

The lost who still seek home

But don't mistake my heart For a place to dump your darkness

Even open doors have locks

This is the Sanga

Where men are made

And pretenders are unmasked

I help who I can

and where my strength reaches

I won't drown to prove I can swim

©MUHAMMAD MERCURIAL

-Nigeria 

“Who I Help?” by Muhammad Mercurial is a poem that explores the struggles, responsibilities, and emotional burdens of manhood. The speaker portrays himself as a man who helps the vulnerable, supports those facing hardship, and remains compassionate despite his own struggles with poverty, disappointment, and betrayal. He reveals the pressure of meeting his family’s expectations and his determination to build a better future for his children, one in which they will be protected from the suffering he has experienced. The poem also examines the hidden emotional costs of courage, emphasizing that even those who support others need understanding and care. Through its reflections on resilience, sacrifice, and self-preservation, the poem teaches that true strength lies not in pretending to be invulnerable but in maintaining kindness, integrity, and healthy boundaries. Ultimately, it encourages people to help others within their capacity without sacrificing their own well-being.