Join The Dillydoun Review in celebrating National Poetry Month with

A Poem by Nneka Joyce Duru

Work oh work!
Here I lie
Prostrate on my sofa
Tired and all spent
My face,
A freeze of drained energy
My mind billowing in heaviness
Of grief and pain and sorrow
My black purse stare blankly at me
And I wonder when
I shall ever be free
To smile outside this scorching heat
African sun,
O quench your fire!
When will I find succor from this strain
In my spirit?
How can one work
Yet has no reward?
Oh, I look on in hope
That one bright sunny day
I shall smile, smile and smile
And give thanks to you
Dear work!

Nneka Joyce Duru is a wife, mother and a member of the Association of Nigerian Authors, Rivers State branch, Nigeria. She is currently the winner of the 2020 AWA Award in Poetry in Africa. She is a prolific writer, a teacher and an advocate of African women and children’s rights.