Under the smiling, satisfied sun
Murder, Greed, Hatred
Embezzlement, Indolence, Contamination
All sit round a table
Also seated are War,
Extortion and Wickedness
Mendacity, Stratagem, Deceit
Aspersion and Ignorance
Envy, Conceit, Hypocrisy
And now, here comes Injustice, the host
Walking on the red carpet
Corruption welcomes her
Bribery salutes her
The dishonestly opulent applauds her
The culpable congratulates her
She rings a bell and says, Let the meal begin!
All are dressed in black and red and dark glasses
Celebrating in sin
Under the senile, sterile sun
Beggary, Hunger, Bloodshed
Fear and Sorrow
Stand and bend their heads and mourn
The death of Amity
Kindness and Virtue
Goodwill and Faith
Loyalty and Honesty
Understanding and Sacrifice
Wisdom and Knowledge
Justice and Love
Tranquillity, Glee, Happiness
They are at a graveyard
Clothed in snow white garments
They are nothing
For Hope went and never came
They are unwanted
Commiseration slept and never woke
END
DANG! CRE-ATIVE! I love this! The characterization in this poem is something to salivate over (Ahaha, catch the banquet/meal inuendo? lol) Anyways, this is one hell of a banquet, I wouldn’t wanna be there. I’m noticing a common theme in your works @Emmanuella, which is good thing. I also love the fact that I got to learn new words, hmm…didn’t even know beggary was a word (thought you took poetic license) until I checked it, and found out it was. Good Job!
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Emmanuella…sometimes I don’t ‘like’ you…but more often than not…
?You amaze me. Positively.
Don’t change for nothing.
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@Seun-odukoya, awww, if you have ANY idea how much I’ve missed your tongue-lashing yarns eh….
NS-Presido, or ex-, how far? E tey small, o, oga! Anyting for the gals, hm? 
Oga, you should meet with the NS-god and see if, eh, Oga kpata-kpata fit give u ‘son-tin’, u no na…. 
And I was the priestess to the NS-god, till I made a ‘trial-and-error’ renunciation of my throne. The NS-god understood, sha. I wan make u like me, o, biko eh! 
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Emmanuella, I know that in a weird kind of way, you prefer criticism to praise, but I must say this: You are a f**king good writer!
Forgive my language, but that is how much I feel this.
Well done!!!
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You are forgiven, Isaac. Even I spurt that atimes when I speak or write, hm? Thanks for stopping by.
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@Emmanuella, What the heck is happening here? Hope went and never came? Commiseration asleep? Hei!! I “hope” the world never comes to this grinding halt. But strangely, and amusedly so, I LIKE this poem!! It is imbued with an ambience of judgement day in reverse. Trepidation gnaws at my mind strings even as I read. Cool.
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If your mind really had strings, then I could really play ‘tunes’ with them, you know that, right, @Jeffunaegbu?
I didn’t think my old poems could make this much effect. Muchios gratias, my little ones! Be good out there in this world, hm? Thanks for stopping by, Jeffie. 
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i like the plot…its thought engaging, you do well with poetry, keep it up
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Very gloomy, almost too gloomy but i liked it. Well plotted, each stanza was packed, good job.
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Vintage Emmanuella.
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I like the gloomy feel of this piece… I’m not one for bright and sunny “High Schoool Musical” type writing… LOL. (Is that bad?) I guess this is just narcissm cos I do write quite melancholic pieces myself, most times. I like the detail with which you describe the banquet; it makes the personification feel even more real. This was a good read.
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Aaah… Hit the enter button to early… I see you are one for constructive criticism so check out some of my stuff and let me know what you think. It’s nice to have comments like “This is nice” or “I liked this” but sometimes you need specific and honest criticism to help you grow. I see you posted on the forum about other writer’s calling your work rubbish… TRUST ME. I AGREE. The skin over here is thick men; bring it on… I don’t mind.
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passion and anger of a writer!, hmmm i feel you sis…tell them
what i likled most was the way you brought out the contrast between the ‘sinful’ banquet and the poverty stricken people…color re/white , graveyard/table
i have a problem with the structure though…i’m a sticker for measurement and balance so i must say this…. your stanzas are
9 lines BANQUET
7 lines banquet
2 lines transition
12lines poverty
2 lines conclusion
4 lines conclusion
though i risk being proven wrong, i think since you are trying to give a balance, there should be an attempt at balance otherwise, just write a blank verse with no clear stanza form…???
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Em, @Xikay, permission to break some poem rules, please???
For doing what I did, or what you discovered in this poem, would you send the literary EFCC on me, hm? So I wrote in blank verse? Nice. I left that blank verse and free verse construct way back in school, biko! If one keeps that in mind, one may never pour out what one has in mind in verse form, wrongly or rightly written. Your constructive analysis confused me BIG TIME, O!
A stickler for measurement and balance…. hm. I’ll note that, sir.
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This isn’t bad, Emmanuella. A decent effort. It’s just …it looks like you started a piece from the end and forgot the beginning. Like why are they having the banquet? Where are they having it? This piece is allegorical so we need to know what it symbolises. Is this a criticism of Nigeria? Africa? where? It feels like all symbolism and no meaning..
Why did Hope leave and never come back? What led to this??
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“Is this a criticism of Nigeria? Africa? where?” … “Why did Hope leave and never come back? What led to this??” Questions, questions, questions, @Guywriterer.
They are all necessary questions, as I can see. But, em, I can’t answer them, sorry. You know why? Because I don’t think I forgot the beginning, dear. I just merely showed a gathering of a ‘banquet’ of some sort and another gathering of a ‘funeral’ parlour, of some sort. Em, you sure you didn’t get any meaning from all the symbolism you saw? I don’t think my answer or interpretation is necessary. Give yours. Tell me what you think, hm? 
Thanks for passing by.
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…and then the rain came and scattered the banuquet, and then we knew, HOPE had returned…
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