the anonymous voice

The Anonymous Voice “I wish I knew,” they say Empty words for fools today. I thought I held to virtue true, Until that hour, that moment came, When clay was told, “you were ours.” My once-lively fingers could not shake, Stilled by nature’s final check. In this new form, I now regret The way I was once nurtured Vice mistaken for virtue, A hollow life without value. Even my shadow, my closest friend, Has fled, for the self he loved lies buried. Friends, I speak from the “unknown world” where I dwell, Where even the air molecules Whisper noise against my soul. Hard to believe, I know Yet none of us chose this place. Perhaps by force, perhaps by fate, I live in sick apprehension. When I walked among you, My vision was clouded, And that blindness led me here. This is a noisy realm, Where thoughts drown in the question: “Who is next?” No one cares, For this place is but an annex of despair. Now, friends, I tremble Afraid that I am next. Before I scream in hell, I offer you this advice: Never live to regret, As I did today. This day, “the day of neglect,” When the potter abandons clay That failed to be molded Remember, before your shadowless self is crushed: “As you sow, so shall you reap.” Okot Emmanuel Okai