CRUSHED

Crushed, the sickening sound
Like squashed melon on hard ground
Under an elephant’s foot, halted traffic;
Heads turned to the ghastly graphics:
Eruption of volcanoes of brain
Matter, blood gushed from
Human skulls under a train’s
Wheels. Two lives forcefully succumbed
To the will of violence and death
As Duncan to the blade of Macbeth.

Again traffic recoils back to activity
Like a snake easing out of captivity
As racks lined with pickles.
Parked articulated vehicles
Are lined along each lane
Making free traffic hard to maintain:
There is less value on life here
And road management, it appears.
How will I erase the images of crushed
Human skulls forcefully squashed?

(c) Nwafor Oji Awala