POETRY
“Northern Martyrs,” read by Nelson Okeke.
Northern Martyrs
Will the blades cut deeper than
our sunken hopes of survival
before our loud whispers are heard?
Yet, we dance and wiggle our bodies
to the rhythm of the heavenly beat
beholding royalty as our last drop
of blood hits the bitten dust beneath us.
It started as one, two,
three random victims
till I lost count
like I ever really had the numbers
of the heads that rolled as we
danced and wiggled our bodies
to the rhythm of an earthly loss
the beat of a heavenly gain.
We see the Father, we unite with Him
every night we are plucked.
Nelson Okeke is a poet and medical doctor who lives in the North Central part of Nigeria. His work has appeared/is forthcoming on Poet’s Choice, Words of the Lamb, Writers Space Africa and Time of Singing. He founded a Christian online poetry platform in 2019, and he has edited two poetry anthologies; God Poems (Volumes 1 & 2). He is passionate about God, writing and medicine. He is happily married to his beautiful and loving wife, Kateanah.
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Image: Cloisters Apocalypse (Fifth Seal- The Martyrs) – L’ouverture du cinquième sceau : les martyrs, miniature de l’Apocalypse du musée des Cloîtres, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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