AIDS IN EDEN

 

The serpent,

Cursed and banished from heaven,

Yet relentless,

Led his agent to Eden.

Adam's sons and daughters baptised the killer agent.

They named him AIDS.

 

Then came the Lord God

In the cool of the evening

And asked, "Who opened the gate to AIDS?"

Adam said it was Eve.

 

Eve passed the buck on the children.

The children among themselves

Carried on the finger-pointing.

The white children accused the blacks.

The blacks pointed at the coloureds.

 

There was none to own up.

Then they blamed it on the monkey.

But alas! The monkey cannot speak.

Who shall advocate for the monkey?

 

And the Lord,

Angered by their insincerity,

Left them to their own devices,

Declaring, "The day you become

Humble enough to know and admit

How the stranger got into your midst,

Then will you begin to get the solutions

To your HIV/AIDS problem".

 

 And so for decades,

Adam's family members

Have dissipated more energy

On buck-passing

Than solution-searching

And AIDS aided death

In consuming many in the fields of Eden.

 

 

 

 

NO FREE RIDE ANYWHERE

 

She requested a free ride to her destination.

The driver craved a free ride in infatuation.

So, he offered her the "free" ride

That on the lady's emotion

He might "freely" ride.

 

So free the ride in the car seemed

That she too gave him a "free" ride

On her flesh

To the deepest part of her ecstasy,

To the innermost room in her privacy

And the highest level of her intimacy.

 

A "free" ride in the man's car

Led to a "free" ride on the lady's body.

No free ride anywhere, after all,

As this is the way of the world.

 

As she "freely" gave her body

For the sake of the "free" ride in his car,

"Freely" did she offer him HIV

And freely he received

The status of a victim carrier.

 

 

HIV/AIDS ONCE !

 

Diagnosis completed, the verdict is here.

The result is clear :

HIV-positive !

The doctor is surprised, the boy is ashamed,

His parents are dismayed.

 

Amidst sobs the story he narrates:

Almost every day his friends boasted.

Of their movie-like escapades they boasted.

Of their immoral exploits they boasted.

Of no such experience could he boast.

 

By the urge for bravado

Was he often pushed, almost uncontrollably,

But control the torrential urge must he.

And control the likely volcano did he.

 

But then came the fateful day.

Then came the day to experience.

Then came the day of curiosity,

Curiosity day, the day to crave experience,

The day to shed innocence,

The day to put off inexperience.

Where should he turn to?

 

Many options considered, one option favoured.

"The best place is with prostitutes", reasoned he.

"That's where the fact of my inexperience

Can be kept secret forever", concluded he.

 

He went

In spite of his heart's warning.

He walked into the den of a decorated tigress.

He sneaked into the bosom of an ornamented wolf.

 

Just once, only once,

Just once in the dim light.

And he paid for the forbidden service.

He paid the accursed whore,

Not knowing that he had paid in addition

For HIV.

Just once; not twice!

Alas! So, once can be too costly!

Once can be too much!

  

 

BRAVADO !

 

Going here and there,

To and fro the earth,

I am HIV,

The universally dreaded killer king.

 

I work to serve God's purpose

And please Satan.

I terminate wicked lives

To partly do the former

And waste innocent people

To achieve the latter.

 

Sinner or saint,

Foolish or wise,

So far they are careless,

There lives I easily take.

 

In vain is much of your campaign

Against my onslaught!

As long as in your midst

Are unrepentant sexual perverts,

Selfish quack doctors

And careless sharp objects sharers.

Then will I remain unstoppable!

 

  

SHOW THEM LOVE

Blame them not;

But show them love.

Whether it was their fault

Or it was not.

Neither matters.

All that really matters now 

Is that you blame them not;

But show them love.

 

They might have once been careless,

Yet you cannot now afford to care less

Because it might have been YOU instead!

YOU too were several times careless.

Show them you care

Since by just caring for them

You cannot with HIV

Be infected.  

  

© Sola Olatunji