Christian Poetry: This Great News by Teriba Korede Michael

This Great News
Soul, I know you’re an haven for forbidden passions:
You’re drunk with wine of lust laced with venom.
I know, like Bunyan’s pilgrim, you are
Burdened with the  world & it's fading pleasures;
Sweet but flames in the gut –  that is to say, death.
You wander, burdened back bent, seeking
Oasis in living hell.
Misery shawls you like a corpse –
You’re a breathing corpse.
Another trophy to be on the devil’s shelf.
Another wonder to be swallowed by earth,
Accompanied with tearful requiems and RIPs when
You’re not at peace in the flames!
Another figure to swell the towering
Figures screaming prayers when it’s late.

Soul, before you exit that body, hear this:

Come to me and you’ll have your rest.
Take my yoke as it is light.
Drink yourself drunk from this spirit well and
Thirst never will scorch your soul, making
It desolate like the ruins of a forgotten city.


Now rise, soul.
You’ve tasted of my wonders.
Be my voice to the world.
Tell them of a foolishness wiser than their
Wisdom & of grace & atonement.
Herald this great news unashamed.
Never let shame clamp your tongue
Tell them of a water flowing from
Christ to any who desires a drink.




Korede Teriba is a creative and content writer whose works has appeared in literary anthologies which include the Star and Staff magazine, Vanguard Issue, National Student Anthology of the Faculty of Law Literary & Debating Society, University of Ibadan. He’s an undergraduate of the University of Ibadan. In addition to writing, Korede is a Campus journalist.