A Dream of a Battle as the Death Approaches

It was a reckoning day- a day of the death. People were lined up in their armored uniforms, swords in hands. The camp took the odor of muds and the sky was darkening. The camp was surrounded with strong blocks and secured end to end. There was a mop of the army that an eye could never see its end.  At the extreme end of the camp was where the women, children and the wounded stay, terrified. Now people were pouring out of that mansion in large numbers as you could never see their end.

I was at the gate swinging my sword when I saw a huge man, completely armored, jumped to release the weight of his sword on my head. I was swift enough to have met every one of his strong blows. But now I got confused. I cannot endure his strokes anymore.

For whatever reason, my fellow comrades have gathered to watch the duel. And they were discouraging me. Saying that I couldn’t face this man- he was too strong.

I was there still fighting, terrified and utterly frightened. It was the fear of death. And now I have no more energy to carry on. A huge blow hit me and sent me tumbling in the mud with my face on the ground. The fear had now intensified; I was afraid to the last atom of my soul. It was the fear of death. I wasn’t prepared to die. I yielded to the power of guilt. I was going to meet the God now. But I was never ready, and that frightens me. As I was well aware that I was about to take one last stroke that would send me to my death, all my thought was about repenting for the injustice I did to myself in the course of my life. But a repentance is never accepted when you are on the brink of death. I closed my eyes for one last time and a completely absolute fear is with me. Death was the last thought. And there I woke up in my bed but still in the battle camp. Whenever I closed my eyes again I go to the battlefield. But except now I was not lying waiting for the last stroke. My fellow comrades helped me to my feet and walked me to my bedroom. But to their surprise, I was anxious to go back and fight that man. I was thinking I could do it all over again. 

By: Bilal Rabiu KOLO