WHO I WANT TO BE

WHO I WANT TO BE

It was the last day at highschool
I remember clearly the colourful canopies and drinks that were cool
We were asked a question
One that left every man for himself to wonder about his destination
My classmates...
Some said they wanted to be doctors
Lawyers, policemen, scientist, teachers, and every other thing the African parent would be proud of
I was lost
And when the time came for me to speak, I said what the crowd never loved

I told them who I wanted to be
I said I never wanted to be just some name on my employers pay book
I never wanted to be that old man that lives down the street
And at seventy the only thing you could boast of is the monthly paychecks I've cashed
Living in an old house, driving a car decaying from decades of use because I can't get a new one
I don't want to just live and die with only my tombstone to immortalize me
You see naked I came to the world but I promise to leave my legacies in a lovely linen


I wanted to be that man
Who would get to the mall and a stranger stops me saying
I was touched and impacted by your words
I want to be that man that brings my countrymen together through the most beautiful of lines
I want to be that voice that spoke life and inspiration into a brother that was once lost
I want to be that African voice that makes the black man proud to wear his skin
I want to be that person that personified poetry into his own person

You see dreams are different and no two men have the same destiny is now a cliche
But like it sounds, mine was different
I wasn't sent to the world to sit behind a desk a give prescriptions
Neither was I sent to talk a save a man from jail in my jurisdiction
I didn't come to earth to wield the rifle, or play in the lab nor give and mark classworks
My mission was separate and because I followed it doesn't make me less
I mean less of my classmates leaving the academy with one star on their shoulders

My calling is in the ministry of words
And anytime my human nature feels too lazy to do this
My guilt makes me pick my pen to write down the pains I feel so you could feel better
So I try to contribute every metre to fill up these vacuums we have in the world today

I want to be that old man
Sitting with a lot of smiles and grey hair
In a world of the Future
One I helped to build
As a parting gift to my children and generations unborn
So they'll come to know
Of a poet who wrote his name on the pages of forever

That's who I want to be.

© Ifiokobong Etuk
(KING of the QUILL)