20/05/2026
What’s With the World?
What’s with the world?
A marketplace of smiling thieves
where handshakes wear perfume
but pockets disappear afterwards.
Everybody says, “I’m here for you,”
until your roof catches fire.
Then suddenly,
even your shadow develops leg pain.
The rich build fences taller than mountains,
yet still sleep with one eye open
like chickens guarding corn in a village full of goats.
Greed has become a national anthem;
people sing it louder than lullabies.
A man donates crumbs to the poor
and hires cameras as witnesses.
Charity now wears makeup,
posing like a beauty queen
while kindness dies quietly backstage.
Look around,
consciences are now rechargeable batteries:
they work only when there is electricity from profit.
Even friendship has subscription plans.
No money?
Your “brother” suddenly becomes
“Who is this?”
We live in a generation
where snakes write motivational quotes
and wolves host seminars on loyalty.
A thief steals billions
then quotes the Bible with a holy accent.
Irony is drinking tea comfortably in parliament.
Ah, this world!
The same mouths shouting “Be yourself!”
will gossip when you finally are.
People clap for honesty
the way spectators clap for wrestlers
carefully, from a safe distance.
Nowadays,
fake people travel in convoys
while truth walks barefoot,
begging for transport fare.
Even lies have bodyguards.
A hungry man prays for bread,
another wastes food posting pictures captioned:
“Soft life.”
Meanwhile suffering sits in the corner
laughing sarcastically like a comedian
who has seen too much.
What happened to humanity?
Have our hearts become freezer compartments?
Compassion now expires faster than gala by the roadside.
People see drowning souls
and throw advice instead of ropes.
Everybody wants to chop life,
but nobody wants to wash the plate afterward.
We plant selfishness in the morning
and expect peace by evening.
That is like bathing with sand
and praying to smell like roses.
Still, the world keeps spinning
a tired dancer forced to entertain wicked spectators.
Tomorrow,
those who mocked the poor today
may borrow slippers from them in the rain of fate.
Because life:
that old village drummer
knows how to change rhythm without warning.
So tell me again…
What’s with the world?
A circus of polished hypocrisy,
where many wear white clothes
to hide black hearts.
Yet somewhere, hidden like gold in dirty rivers,
a few good souls still breathe.
And perhaps that is why
the earth has not resigned from humanity.
Written by Abiola Oluwatobi Oluwagbenga
