ANNIVERSARY
This dreary
anniversary
wakes me
to repeat
the stale tale
of five cycles
and riddles
of eternity;
am a sentry
counting out
misery in
grains of sand:
when our yesterdays
are epitaphs
and tomorrows
unexecuted wills
thrills and drills,
and life a long
and drab ballad
of wrinkled days,
let the sexton
toll the sullen bells
for a cold
anniversary.
Samuel Asein
EDITOR’S NOTE
Source: Archiving (Nigeria Magazine, Sunday, March 1, 1970).