It is the eyes that help us to see
The glory and beauty of the earth,
As well as the ugly things that be
In fruitful seasons and times of dearth.
Life – how would it be without the eyes?
Those ugly things would not us repulse
Nor things of beauty would us entice,
And our view of all things would be false.
Without the eyes the world would be drear:
But yet to themselves the eyes are blind,
That unless they draw a mirror near
Their own beauty they can never find.
In life every man is like the eyes
While his neighbours like the mirror are:
You should not your neighbours then despise,
Or from knowing yourself you’ll be far.
– Victor Emmanuel Uwah, Poems From Within, 1997
