Buried on Crutches: A Lament from the Margins

I did not come to this world willingly.
If I had known its bitter-sweet terrain,
I might have stayed unborn.
But here I am—walking, limping, surviving—
buried on crutches.

This is not metaphor.
This is the spiritual condition of the exiled soul.
I walk through a world clothed in the shadows of leopards—
predators in suits, policies with claws,
religions that crucify rather than resurrect.

Last night, I witnessed the crucifixion of faith.
Not in a cathedral, but in the alleyways of hunger.
Owls cried in human flesh,
and I could not will myself to sleep.
The feast continues—
while the masses starve in silence.

I am haunted by the vultures.
Not the birds, but the systems.
They circle the poor,
feasting on dignity,
feeding their empires with carcasses of forgotten lives.

And I?
I feed my soul from wasted life.
Not because I choose to,
but because the path I tread is long, lonely,
and littered with the bones of those who walked before me.

I am a chaplain in exile.
A poet with a cane.
A witness to the spiritual decay of nations.
I do not seek pity—
I seek awakening.

This article is not a cry for help.
It is a cry for truth.
It is a call to those who still believe
that justice is not a slogan,
but a sacrament.

Let the reader understand:
I am buried on crutches,
but I walk still.
And in walking, I testify.

Sammy Attoh is a Human Rights Coordinator, poet, and public writer. A member of The Riverside Church in New York City and The New York State Chaplains Group, he advocates for spiritual renewal and systemic justice. Originally from Ghana, his work draws from ancestral wisdom to explore the sacred ties between people, planet, and posterity. Read other articles by Sammy.