We walk bare-footed on this street
In sun and rain, during the day and the night
In order to make two ends meet
We eat food soaked with our tears and sweat
The hot soil is the best foot wear for our legs
All we know in life is sorrow and bitterness
Which there is no one to share with
Life has taught us to strive alone
Life has taught us that no one cares
We live each and everyday with no hope left in us
We walk like we have no life in us
Because we are the walking dead
We don’t know what tomorrow holds
But we choose to live even a miserable life
We knew no joy from birth
We have no father nor mother
We don’t know what a family is called
Even though we have seen many kids living life we are deprived
Who drove us into this world ?
To suffer without an end
Why are we different from every other kids we have met?
We can’t read nor write
Gutter is the best shelter life offered
Our best clothes are rags
We find joy in food at the dunghill
Where people spit and mock us
Why can’t they just let us be?
And leave our happiness unarmed
On this street we appear and disappear
Hoping that death will close our eyes one day
To bring an end to this suffering and pain
To bring an end to this mockery
To give us peace from this struggle
Our whole life is built on the word hustle
But in it all we never take what is not ours
But we have been taken for thieves
Because we lack so many things
We are the one parents do not want the kids to relate with
All we live is a world containing us and ourselves alone
We are tagged vagabonds and fugitives
There are so much stories we can finish narrating
There are hidden tears no one ever seen
Our loudest sigh is unheard
No one cares
All our struggles is left as if unseen
We have taken our fate
But we live each day hoping and waiting
For death to close our eyes to heavenly bliss.
Adebayo Victoria Tobiloba 