BY GLORIA O’KOYE

A rejuvenating, sweet, innocent newborn scent that can melt the coldest of hearts.

A salve that soothes the itchiness left by worldly scars.

First of everything,

From smiles to sounds can bring peace

Piercing heavy clouds.

The purity of a child brings wisdom that can humble

The wisest of teachers from afar.

In the first few weeks of life,

Skin-to-skin between parents and child,

It can strengthen lifelong bonds.

It promotes life through connections,

Never underestimate true parental love.

The love of a child can save lives,

Can uplift even when dangling by a thread

Above the turbulent winds

And treacherous seas of fear and doubt.

The love of a parent

Can break the lineage of trauma and hurt,

Uproot tainted family trees

In ways that insanity has no way in,

Only culture and traditions can come to full fruition

As they fully sprout.

Sweet child,

Don’t ever say that you are never enough.

You came just in time

When the glimmer of hope wants to dim out.

A love of a child

The mind of a child,

Is what the world constantly lacks.

Only a childlike faith can enter the gates of heaven,

Surpassing forefathers who grew cold from a dying world

Lies and deceit,

A child will heal those wounds and breathe in life.

That power

Sweet child,

No one can ever take it away,

It is highly favored from beyond human comprehension,

Continue to be you

Sweet child.

BY GLORIA O’KOYE

Heavenly bodies

As vessels to nurture life.

When giving birth means opening

The gates of Elysium and Hades

In the same sentence,

So many intrusive thoughts continuously

Distract a vulnerable mind from

Concentrating.

Weeks of changes,

Misunderstandings from outsiders

Even within close circles.

Exhaustion confused as laziness

Can bring one healthy spiritual beings

Down to their knees in doubt and sorrow.

The final phases cause distress,

Except for those that prepared to take on

This psychological test.

Advocating and entrusting that the body

Knowing what’s best.

Let no pressure from institutions to write

Off another patient,

For this gift of creation deserves

Premium attention and nothing less!

No more allowing negative influences

Dictate a personal journey into these

Sacred moments.

There is only guidance and milestones

But trust that ancestors will guide

Within miracles in teachings.

Divine wisdom

In the tree of life that comes after.

Don’t be haste in severing its ties

When hearing the first cries.

Ceremony comes with time,

And allow rest to ease the soul, body and

Mind.

BY GLORIA O’KOYE

If problems were so easy to be solved

Why are they still happening?

If creation provided all the necessities,

Why only a small percentage of humans

Have full control of them.

Distribution in small rations to the masses,

While a few feast and even treat luxury of

Resources as waste filling up landfills.

If it was so easy for everyone to take

What is needed

Not out of greed, overfilling their pockets.

Leaving scraps for those enlightened

By humility and patience.

If problems were so easy to be solved,

Why our young who are strangers

Taking each other lives,

For the bickering between

Older generations that know one another.

For wars fought by those that are full of

Life, the people who live and die for their

Beliefs and propagandas being fed,

Only for disagreements to end with

Signatures on paper

After land and water fill with bloodshed.

If problems could be easily solved

At a snap of a finger,

And the people truly have a voice.

Why are the powers that retire

Placed as judges in inquests for

Others in current power.

Passing down sentences behind closed

Doors, with no community to be there.

All would be well in ideology,

If human nature didn’t add in the factors.

When solutions are already within reach

Yeh, we make things harder.