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Finding Balance (I) The Scroll Never Ends
I wake up to the glow,
not the sun.
Thumb first, prayer later.
News, reels, wars, and laughter
all in a single scroll.
The world now fits in my hand,
but my peace does not.
I chase dopamine
in pixels that never rest,
while my coffee grows cold beside me.
Everyone’s talking
no one’s listening.
We are more connected
and yet, more alone.
Balance now feels
like switching off the phone
without feeling the fear
of disappearing.
Finding Balance (II) Tradition and Trend
They told me to remember where I came from,
but my feed keeps showing me where to go next.
Old songs fade under new rhythms,
and even proverbs sound strange in translation.
Still, my grandmother’s voice
lives inside me
soft as palm oil,
strong as iroko roots.
She says, “You can follow the world,
but don’t let it drag you.”
So, I wear Ankara with my sneakers,
pray in English, dream in Yoruba,
and try to belong
in two centuries at once.
Finding Balance (III) Digital Faith
My gods now live in algorithms.
They bless me with likes
and punish me with silence.
The church is a livestream,
the offering a tap.
I used to kneel by the bed,
now I tweet my gratitude.
Screens replaced shrines,
but the longing feels the same.
Maybe worship never changed
only the platform did.
We still want to be seen,
We still need something
greater than the noise.
Finding Balance (IV) Stillness, Somehow
In a city that runs on Wi-Fi and want,
I walk slower now.
There’s peace in lagging behind,
in letting the world buffer for a bit.
The sky still opens without a password,
the wind still moves without data.
And maybe that’s the point,
the balance isn’t in catching up,
but in remembering,
you were whole
before the signal reached you.
Reynolds Mezue Mark is a Nigerian poet and creative writer based in the United Kingdom.
