Freedom, a poem
Contestant: Covenant Olorunyomi is a 17-year-old student from Lokoja, Nigeria’s Baptist High School. Image by Courtesy of Covenant Olorunyomi
Editor’s Note: The Forward is featuring essays, poems and short stories written for our Young Writers Contest. Today’s entry was written by Covenant Olorunyomi, is a 17-year-old student from Baptist High School in Lokoja, Nigeria. You can find more work from our young writers here.
My world has never been limited to the four walls
of any building ever. I walk and talk with whom I want,
fulfilling the basis for human creation which is socialization.
Following the stories of man’s evolution, he was
bestowed with the freedom to fly with less
enshroudings provided by the garments that later
gave consciousness to shame as modernization crept in.
Contestant: Covenant Olorunyomi is a 17-year-old student from Lokoja, Nigeria’s Baptist High School. Image by Courtesy of Covenant Olorunyomi
Sadly, man’s simplicity and desires for just necessities
gave way to savagery which led to the invention of the
book of judgement that could regulate his excesses.
There was no longer freedom to steal or maim or destroy.
Man’s affable nature changed to sensitivity.
The beauty of association with no restrictions has been
interrupted without jurisdiction. Even the freedom to breathe
in clean air and inhale the savory scent of the new rains and
blooming flowers has been masked by a mask.
The zeal to work hard so as not to steal has waned during these weeks.
I read hard to lead in the final examinations
conducted throughout the entire West African region, but
that enthusiasm is undoubtedly diminishing.
Schools have been shut down, and all chances of meeting
teachers have been turned down as physical distancing must
be observed to prevent total lockdown.
The beauty of festivities like Easter and Eid has been limited
by social distancing and we can not pray together for God to
make way out of this dungeon.
Even if my state has not recorded a single case, my country
has over a thousand cases and even if we can not trace
where it is headed for next, we try to hasten our pace and be
many steps ahead of this disease.
My freedom to move and school is still restricted but I am
thankful that I am safe. At least for now.
But my freedom is not complete
until normalcy is restored and the world is healed.
Till we can travel once again and inter- relate with
different races.
I have been trapped indoors like a fugitive, moving only
when necessary and always cleaning up my tracks. Fun
stuff like camping, dance and music classes has been prohibited.
I feel so suffocated and I think all these was orchestrated
but we must not be intimidated or threatened. We must fight
like the valiant men that fought for independence some decades ago.
We should not be faint for I fear this might be another long
walk to freedom.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
