PILGRIMS

The ship of life sets on sail,
Commemorated by the piercing cry of a babe – Larinka, her name:
Young, promising and void of flaws,
Except for that default aura – the Adamic nature it was called.
Innocent as the word gets, voices try to shape her choices;
A lawyer you will be!
Oh no! A doctor you should be!
Still malleable, Larinka giggles in excitement,
As if mocking the hypocrisy of what they called parental guidance.

She grows, having inscriptions and engravings
Etched on the very fabric of her existence,
Her environment and experiences being dutiful craftsmen of the trade.
Ignorant of circumstantial reality,
And oblivious of evidential frailty,
Larinka dared to dream.
Oh yes! A dream, so similar to that of Martin Luther King.

Barely halfway into her virtual reality,
Life started dealing its cruel and fatal blows:
Father – an infidel,
Mother – a chronic adulteress,
Family – at the brink of collapse,
Neighbours – certified rapists, and oh yes she has had a taste.
Cruel life! How cunning can you be!
Like a pack of dominoes, her expectations crumbled,
One toppling the other.

Larinka no longer dared to dream,
It had become a luxury she no longer could afford.
Worry, doubt, hatred, fear and disappointment, her newest companions,
Had just organised a hostile takeover.
With no friends to call her own,
She lived in her world all alone,
Asking and answering questions in her head.
Crazy and weirdo she was called,
Having bitter tears as her only supper before sleep.
Yet, trust was one commodity Larinka was no longer willing to stake.
She had died a thousand times before she even dared to live!

As if in response to heaven’s diagnosis,
She heard a preacher scream, “Jesus loves you!"
“Can anyone love me?", Within herself she thought.
But a new awareness had just been birthed – one she was bent on exploring.
And on the pages of her Bible, she found the answers.
Larinka once again learned  to trust,
She dared to dream,
And she chose to live.

Will she make it?
Will her dreams come true?
Will she get over her past?
Will she save her family?
Will her life impact those around her?
Will she make a difference?
Well, that depends very much on Larinka’s choice – whatever it turns out to be.
And these are questions we all must answer deliberately,
Especially when we realize that we are PILGRIMS after all.

Samuel Idowu Boroh