Focus: This Picture (IV)

Later and sooner
Every bubble will burst
My emotion has been exchanged
I should see and not talk
I could choke but not cough
I would taste but my lip must be sealed
I shouldn’t feel pain
I shouldn’t,
Not because I can’t or wouldn’t
But, I must be a man!
Or else I’m not a man
This yardstick is hard
Strong enough to kill
This yard has buried more men
And their grave is a yardstick apart.

Victor Oyedele