You
for Aunt Vic
The rain came today for the second time this year
And I stop to picture your face in the droplets.
There is nothing new to tell you, just to let you
Know that things have gone on to be and somethings don’t change
With time. Like how the drizzles still remind me of you—
Clear-skinned, gentle and soft spoken like a baby, this is how I remember
You always in the call of things.
Like wool on skin, life should have been soft on you.
There are times I even wished the illness was gentle or even slower
With the task of gnawing at your insides
Before the clock began ticking to your countdown, the shutting
Down of your organs, I wanted to let you know
Of my wishes. Desires that peeled sleep from my eyes,
The way slicing onions robs the eyes of tears, at night.
You should know now how much like you,
More than you I dreamed of becoming. Like you
I longed for more: the desire to go to university.
It’s night & I’m on the bus returning home, from Lagos to Ifo.
The calm patter of miniscule waters on the roof of the bus,
The bright headlights and the noise of cars and bikes will end soon.
Just like you I’d get home and unlike you
I’d feel everything you no longer feel— the ache of everything
I could have become,
A dream-sized ache. The loss. Laughters. The sorrow of your exit.
Bio:
AYIYI JOEL, TPC XVI, is a young budding poet from Edo state in Nigeria. A Best Of The Net Nominee. He was longlisted for the Akachi Chukwuemeka Poetry Prize, SEVHAGE KSR Poetry Prize, DKA Poetry competition. He emerged as a Finalist in the Shuzia New Canvas poetry competition and he is also the winner of the Shuzia EPIPHANY poetry competition. He has works published/forthcoming in B’K, Rough Cut Press, Rigorous, African Writers mag, The Milton Review and elsewhere.
