ALL LENGTH IS TORTURE
I began without seeking to find
Ease comfort and worldly pleasures
But when they come by measures
I began to revel with an easy mind
In what greed and avarice unbind
To let loose what my yearnings bred.
I had hoped in vain to tread
A true path and mind the slope
But vanity and worldliness flanged my scope
And I knew not where I was led;
Every step led me to a giddy height
With every fellow traveller a foe
As my yearnings sowed their plight—
I never thought the fare would be so:
I have learnt my woes to disclose
And only death will give me repose.
U. Eweka
EDITOR’S NOTE
Source: Archiving (Nigeria Magazine, Sunday, March 1, 1970).