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 </div><p>The fire in her eyes seared my soul coal-black,<br>
Heaves of despair slouched her small, scrawny back,<br>
Engraved on her spirit was a weary lonely lack.</p>
<p>For the first time, I fell for a street-side beggar-girl,<br>
Oh, my poor mind was in a wild wild whirl,<br>
Left stricken by the virgin thunder of agape affection,<br>
Lush compassion for this stranger became all I knew,<br>
‘Yond the hills and valleys of frivolity, I flew.</p>
<p>Obscene, the world’s excesses slowly seemed to me,<br>
For roses die, chocolate melts and the taste of wine will cease to be.</p>
<p>Egregiously, we relegate ardor to a yearly Valentine,<br>
Virulent is this madness, I enclave myself in quarantine,<br>
Ensconced blindly in a palace of dearth, our humanity fades,<br>
Ruthlessly clueless, we sit upon a throne of blades,<br>
Yanked away from us is the true meaning of amity,<br>
Taking its place is cold-blooded insanity,<br>
Harlequin romances and flaming libidos,<br>
Is that all there is to showing love?<br>
Nocturnal meetings of Juliets and dreamy Romeos,<br>
Grave desecrations of the will from Above.</p>
<p>Rise, my brother! Flood your sight with the ocean of truth,<br>
It is not a season to kiss Aunty Becky and smooch Sister Ruth,<br>
Spend your kisses on the wounds of the homeless,<br>
Expend your sweets on the bitterness of the hopeless.</p>
<p>The real love I speak of transcends lustful thoughts,<br>
On divine wings, it flutters past this Babylon of rots,<br>
Do let not the folly of everything cloud your sky,<br>
Around the world, a million starving beggar-girls need someone,<br>
You owe them love, make their hearts shine brighter than the sun.</p>
<blockquote><p>NOTE: This poem <a href="http://wrr.ng/authorpedia/brigitte-poirson-poetry-contest-2016-university-of-ibadan-poet-kayinsola-wins-february-edition/" target="_blank">won the February edition of the BRIGITTE POIRSON POETRY CONTEST (BPPC) 2016</a>.</p></blockquote>

 
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 Kanyinsola Olorunnisola </a>
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