Sharia law in the northern part of Nigeria is alive and kicking. This poem is about a guy that fell in love but was threaten because of the hypocritical system of the law.

Today, I became a victim,
a victim of love.

A zealot accused me for holding
my love's hand.

He says,
am guilty,
condemned to public trashing
with horse whip
for whispering love songs
to my queen.

He says,
it's a taboo
to shake my beauty's hand
it's a crime to cuddle her.
A stoneable offence to send
a bouquet of roses

He says,
am only free
to touch her without
eyes feasting.

I can only caress her succulent
anatomy when alone,
enclosed by silent walls.

I told him,
to his face that
affinity thrives in open-ness.

Emeka Chike Nwogu